Remembering Finley
by Neut
Summary: Finley Loughlin is a police sergeant working a high-profile case. When the missing gems are believed to have been shipped to America, Will Benedict comes to work the case. However, everything isn't as it seems. Finley has what is known as The Devils Gift and is a danger to those around her. Is there a way Will can teach her to trust herself again, or will he succumb to her gift?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

The office is always freezing – I never actually understand why. It was February, the temperature outside was sub-zero and there were rumours of snow falling next week. However, the office just installed a new heating device which appeared to be working for everyone else, apart from myself. Perhaps it was because my office was in the corner, away from everyone else? Probably it. But would I prefer to sit in the middle of the room with the heater next to me, or sit in the corner alone with my headphones and my cases, not having to talk to anyone? I would always pick the latter.

I had been working in the Belfast south police unit for over six years, becoming a detective sergeant in the process. Normally, sergeants in the police get their own offices but I couldn't focus sitting by myself. I had to have stuff going on around me, with music, to even attempt to focus. My mind was always going too fast, running around constantly, and if I had nothing to look at, I would just do nothing. My chief inspector who runs the station understood and gave me the corner desk, where I overlooked the entire office but was hidden out of the way and was allowed a desk plant as well. Only thing is, the corner appears to be freezing. I pulled my hoodie closer to me – thankfully, I didn't have to wear uniform and could wear whatever I fancied. Unlike others, I had no one to impress. So whilst everyone else was in fashionable winterwear and knitted jumpers, I was in fleece lined leggings, some cheap boots, two layers of base layers and a hoodie.

'Have you heard, Loughlin?' Alice said to me and I frowned up at her. Alice was another detective on the squad, one that I work with often and considered a decent friend. I daren't get close to people. I had in the past, and it had ended badly.

'Heard what?' I replied back.

'Bloody hell, it's like the Artic over here.' Alice laughed and I smiled. 'Should have accepted your office when you got promoted, at this rate even Lawrence will be dead.' She touched my desk plant.

'Lawrence is fake. Lawrence is a fake plant.' I said and Alice looked at me and nodded.

'Lawrence will die if it remains this cold over here. No, they have someone coming over from the FBI to help with the missing gems case. He works in the FBI, leads a division about trans-national crimes with allied countries and they've sent him over to help with the gems case. Isn't that your case?' Alice said sitting up on the desk. I looked at her and I frowned. I knew the case; several massive gems and pearls had been stolen from a celebrities house in Belfast and they believed to have been imported illegally to America. But I didn't know they had got someone from the FBI to come over. Didn't seem like a case for the FBI.

'Yeah, why have they got the FBI involved?'

'No idea. Maybe there were more gems involved? The price went up? Or it's part of a bigger case? Mitch has gone to pick him up from the airport.' Alice explained. 'Him.'

'Him?' I asked again, not getting the point.

'Well, you're getting on about and you seem reluctant to go dating.' Alice laughed, and I rolled my eyes. She didn't know the half of it. Alice had no idea about my gift, or how deadly it is, and the real reason I lived alone in a small flat an hour commute from the office. Alice, on several occasions, asked about moving in together and I had to refuse her each time. But I was scared to ruin our friendship. The second we argued, I would get upset or annoyed and I would wipe her mind. I didn't want to do that.

'I'm not just going to hit on the first male that walks through the door, Alice!' I laughed, and she rolled her eyes as we heard the elevator door ping. I looked over, cowing back in my chair as I saw Mitch walk out. Mitch was a rank ahead of me and ran the station detectives, giving everyone the cases and making me take over the office when he was out.

And then the most beautiful man walked out behind him. The man was easily over six foot, brown hair going every which direction. He was built amazingly, muscles in places I wasn't entirely sure muscles could grow. He was dressed in just a pair of boots, some jeans and a plain top. Mitch showed him into the office before looking at me, nodding and winking.

'Oh God, even Mitch wants to hook you up with _a beautiful_ FBI man!'

'Yeah, he ain't bad looking, is he?' I laughed and Alice pretended to have a heart attack.

'What is this? Finley admits someone looks decent? SERGEANT LOUGHLIN HAS HUMAN EMOTIONS, EVERYONE, THIS IS A BREAKTHROUGH.' Alice called loudly and I looked at her.

'Detective, haven't you got cases to be working on?' I said and she looked at me.

'Don't give me that work tone, Loughlin. I'll be watching you and cute FBI man.' Alice said before heading to her desk – directly in front of mine.

I put my headphones back in before typing up the report for one of my old cases, ready to be taken into court. The paperwork was always length, and it had to be correct or the evidence would not be accepted in court and would be thrown out, alongside the case. It was around half an hour later, perhaps even an hour, before the door to Mitch's office opened. I subtly muted the music to hear what Mitch was going to say but continued to type, head down, not paying attention at all.

'Everyone, can I have your attention? This is Will Benedict, he's going to work on the missing imported gem case for a month. Please treat him like one of our own. Sargent Loughlin, he will be working with you to try and find those gems. Don't be an asshole to him.' Mitch said directly at me as I continued to type, pretending not to hear what he said. 'Loughlin.' Mitch said. 'Finley, come on.'

I took out my headphone, pretending just to notice him and beautiful FBI man behind him – what was his name again.

'Don't be an asshole to this one.' Mitch mumbled to me before walking off. Will looked at me nervously, his eyes a wonderful blue-green colour and a lovely stubble.

'So… nice to meet you – Finley, right?' Will said before he took my hand and shook it.

'Yeah, yeah it is.' I said and Will nodded awkwardly before he took a step closing to me.

'Bloody hell why is it so cold over her? I live in mountains and it's freezing.' Will said and I smiled shyly. 'So, the gem case.' He said.

'Yeah, yeah. Come with me, I have a nice board somewhere with it all explained.' I explained, getting out of my chair, walking away and Will didn't follow.

'Finley, don't you need shoes?' Will laughed as he saw my fluffy socks – I had forgotten I had kicked off my shoes when I came in this morning. I blushed and nodded, walking quickly back over and awkwardly fumbling with my cheap black fleece-lined boots as Will just watched. I realised I was shaking. Will, watching me like a hawk, didn't mention my fumbling hands. Instead, he just smiled shyly as I got up – I only came up to his chest – and led him into the investigation room, where I had all my notes on display; the searches, the photographs, the CCTV photos, everything. I wanted to at least look prepared for the beautiful FBI man when really, I had no idea what I was doing with this case.

/\\\/\\\/\\\

Hiya.

I'm expecting this to be quite short story. I was planning on doing a follow-on story from the perspective of Sky, i have a storyline and everything, but the more I started writing this, the more I started to like Finley. So this is the backstory for Finley, which is why it's quite thin and rough. I just wanted to know if people liked Finley before I started - or if you wanted the other story to follow to be written.

Let me know if you like it. I know it's not amazing but it's something.

Also, the character and backstory of Finley were roughly taken from a FanFiction my older sister started two years back but had no interesting in carrying on.


	2. Chapter 2

The awkward conversation between Will and I very quickly died out when we discussed the case; throwing in our opinions and looking for leads. It didn't make it any easier that the more I bumbled and got excited at how wonderful Will was, the more stupid I got, with Will politely correcting me and not making me feel like an idiot. It got too around one in the morning, and no one was in the office anymore. Mitch had given me the keys to open the now locked door to the carpark. I was sat on the desk, covered in pieces of paper where I had written down potential leads about anything. Will was still stood up, walking around, and I covered a yawn with my house. I knew he didn't get a car rental when he was over here and would rely on lifts – probably from me – or public transport. I also knew very limited trains run this time of night.

'We should probably call it a night?' Will said.

'Yep, we have to be back at nine.' I said and Will nodded. 'Where are you staying? I'll drop you off there.'

'Let me just check.' Will said, checking his phone and showing me the address.

'Na, that is like two hours away. Why did they check you in there?' I asked and Will nodded.

'Apparently they hate me. I'll just grab the subway.' Will said, smiling at me slightly. Something inside flipped. I never had any proper relationship. I never really had any feelings towards anyone. But there was something about Will, though. He was very caring, every time my cup of water was empty he topped it up. He gently touched my shoulder a few times as he moved past me in one of the interrogation room we made into a small meeting room – and when he did, it gave me butterflies.

'You can stay with me tonight.' I said and Will turned to look at me. 'I'll sleep on the settee, and it's just for tonight, doesn't mean anything. It'll just be… easier.' I said, regretting what I said when he didn't reply in like a second. 'But I can still drop you off if you want.'

'Finley, that would be lovely. Thank you.' Will said and I looked at him, smiling slightly. Will smiled as well. 'Shall we go then, beautiful?'

I stopped and looked at him as he walked over to the door, holding it open for me. 'You're gonna have to show me out, I have literally no idea where I am going.' Will said and I mutely walked passed him, showing him down to my car.

We had been driving for half an hour when Will decided to break the small awkward conversation to ask a question I had been dreading to hear from the second I "lost" my parents.

'So, when were you going to tell me?' Will asked me.

We had just got out of Belfast and was heading down some of the quieter main roads towards my small town where my flat was situated.

'Tell you what?' I asked.

'Tell me you're a Savant.' Will said and looked at me. I swallowed nervously, starting to feel a bit sick.

'Um, never.' I said.

'Why?' Will said and I shook my head.

'I don't wanna talk about it. I don't want to be a Savant. I… yeah, no.' I said and Will looked at me. 'Seriously, don't want to talk about it.'

'Okay, that is fine.' Will said and I nodded.

'Thank you.' I whispered.

'You do live quite far away though.'

'I don't like living in the city, I prefer to be on my own. The commute isn't too bad in the morning and I rarely go home on time so there is barely any traffic. It's not all bad.' I said and I knew Will was looking at me – he accepted me not telling him, but he wanted to know why I wasn't telling him.

'Bad childhood experience.' I simply said and Will nodded.

'How far have we got left to go?' Will asked and I looked at the clock.

'Half an hour, perhaps an hour? It isn't far.' I said and he nodded. 'So, why are you proud of being a Savant?' I asked. I always wondered how people can walk around, bold as brass, bragging about their abilities – don't people realise their gifts had negative consequences? My gift was strictly only bad, but whatever Will does he is somewhat proud of – there must be a downside.

'Why wouldn't I be proud?' Will asked and I just sighed. 'I know that I can use my gift, with my family, for the greater good. Helping people who need helping, putting away bad people. We run the Net, and we only accept people who are willing to do that.'

'What about people who get banned?' I asked, biting my lip. 'Or get rejected.'

'They probably aren't in it for the right reason.' Will said matter-of-factly and I just sighed.

'Right.'

'You're not on the Net.' Will said and I smiled slightly. I remembered the pain of being rejected from the Net twice, one being told I was too dangerous. I cried for weeks. I felt useless, worthless, and believed I was dangerous. And Will just confirmed that I probably got banned from the Net because I wasn't in it for the right reason. I have never done anything evil, never done anything criminal, and have dedicated my life to helping the victims of crimes by finding the perpetrators who hurt others and jailing them. I wanted to be in the Net to get support, to at least get support, but I got banned.

'Nope.'

'Why not?'

'Reasons.' I said and he looked at me. He didn't need to know I had been banned.

'Can't imagine you being a serial criminal.' Will said and I shook my head.

'I'm not. Never committed a crime. Never stolen a 5p bag, never sped, always legally downloaded my music.' I told Will.

'So why aren't you in the Net, Fin?' I never had been called Fin before, everyone knew I was called Finley and no one dared shorten it down. Everyone mainly called me Loughlin. But when Will said it, it was warming my heart slightly.

'I don't want to talk about it, Will, I really don't.' I whispered and Will nodded.

'I'll drop it for now.'

'You'll drop it forever.' I mumbled under my breath and he sighed, shaking his head and looking out the window. We drove in silence for another ten or so minutes before Will spoke.

'So, tell me about yourself.' Will said and I frowned. 'Tell me about your family.' God, he liked accidentally sticking his neck in it, didn't he?'

'I don't have one.' I mumbled.

'You don't have a family?' Will asked me.

'No, I'm an orphan. I was dropped off at an orphanage when I was a kid.' I said and he looked at me. I wasn't going to mention it was my brother who dropped me off, and I still remembered all my so-called family – they just didn't remember me. 'Let's not talk about that either.' It still made me sad thinking about it – how can a family just give up their daughter? Their own child? 'Tell me about your family.'

And he did. He told me about all of his siblings, which were married, which weren't. How they had all found their Soulfinder apart from him. He told me about his parents, his cousins, his auntie and uncles. He explained their jobs to me. Even when I pulled up by my place, he continued to explain as we entered.

'I'm just… gonna go and get changed.' I said to him, after giving him a quick tour. 'Feel free to make yourself a cuppa.' I said, awkwardly pointing to the kettle. Feeling awkward, and tired – so, so tired – I ran into the bedroom and got changed quickly, throwing a jumper on and some leggings, not what I usually slept in but I wasn't going to wear some pun-filled top without a bra and character-print pyjama bottoms. The mood was a lot soberer than earlier, seduced by the night.

'Fin?' Will said gently and I turned around, starting to like the shortened down version of my name. No one ever called me in before – but when Will said it, it was growing on me. Will was still in the kitchen, sipping his coffee.

'Yeah?' I said, stepping back into the kitchen as he came up to me.

'Thank you for this.'

'I wasn't gonna let you get the train home at 1 in the morning.' I whispered as I took a step closer, looking at Will's grey socks on the laminate flooring. I pulled down the sleeves of my pyjama hoodie, constantly being cold.

'You're very sweet.' Will said softly and I looked up at him nervously. He smiled down at me softly, moving his hand up gently to run a finger down my cheek. There was something more timid to him now – perhaps the lack of sleep and the jetlag was getting to him. But he gently cupped my face, bending down slightly to kiss me. I don't know what got into me, but I kissed him back, going up on tiptoes to reach his, my arms wrapped around his neck. His arm went around my back, holding me up as the other hand ran through my hair. I had very little experience with men – one or two boyfriends that ended up badly by my definitions and now couldn't remember who I am – but Will was different. I knew it. There was something about him that made me feel safe, feel comfortable. As if he was my whole World. Like he was my Soulfinder.

I could only remember odd pieces about being a Savant from my parents before the incident – one of them being the whole Soulfinder story. Mitch, another Savant who filled in the gaps for me, explained it all to me properly, much as he did to his four daughters and three sons. I was very uncertain, preferring to block out the possibility of any Savant element to my person, but with Will, I felt like I was myself.

Will pulled away and looked at me. 'Well, that was new.'

'Yeah… whoops.' I said and he smiled at me before kissing my forehead. I frowned, realising what I was doing and stepped back. I can't get close to people – it only led to me hurting them. The people I cared about the most always got in the line of my "gift." 'Er, should we go to bed?' I said nervously, itching my arm. I had already changed into my attempt at pyjamas; a tee and some thin leggings.

'Fin?' Will said ever so gently; he too was in pyjamas – a pair of shorts and a top with the Coca-cola logo on. 'What's up?'

'Nothings up?'

'Really, you're flagging up as a danger to yourself suddenly. What's up?' Will asked me.

'I'm fine Will, stop asking about it!' I said, walking off like a toddler to my bedroom. Will followed me and I heard him sigh.

'Sorry.' He said softly and I shrugged, getting into bed nervously.

'If you sure this sharing bed situation isn't weird, get in here and turn off the light.' I said as he nodded, flicking the switch as I got into my double bed. My bed was I the middle of the room and I always slept on the left-hand side. I pulled the duvet up around my shoulders and pretended to be asleep as Will got in the bed next to me. The silence in the room was deafening – but I could hear everything. I could hear Will breathing beside me, the bedsheets crinkling slightly. I dunno how much time had passed, if any, before Will sighed.

'Finley, there's something different about you.' Will whispered.

'I get that a lot.' I whispered back. 'Never a good thing.'

'No, I mean it in a good way. There's… something.' Will replied and I sighed, rolling over to look at him. He was laying on his back, but he was looking at me, his blue eyes meeting my gaze. 'Sorry for pestering you.' He mumbled and I shrugged.

'I just really wish I wasn't a Savant, I hate talking about it. You wouldn't be willing to do this if you knew what I could do.' I said and he shrugged.

'Na, I would.' Will said and I shook my head. 'Fin, I can sense danger. Whatever it is that you can do, I'll know you're in danger before it happens. Whatever you do, it doesn't scare me.'

Will told me I don't scare him comforted me in ways I never thought was possible. Everyone was always scared of me, scared of my gift, scared I would revert them back to acting like a toddler, make them forget every word of English they could speak. But Will telling me he wasn't scared, even though he didn't know what I could do, comforted me – and knowing he could tell when I was close to being a danger helped me too. If I was ever close to losing my shit, he could at least call it quits before he got hurt.

'You don't have to tell me what you do if you don't want, we don't have to mention Savants if you don't want too.' Will said and I nodded.

'I'll tell you when I trust you enough.' I mumbled and he nodded.

'That's fair.' Will said before he looked at me, putting his arm out. 'Cuddle?' He asked before I smiled, shuffling over to him and curling into his side. 'Now you, sleep. It's late.' He said, poking my forehead.

'It's late for you too.' I mumbled as he tightened his arm around me, rubbing my upper arm gently as my hand rested on his chest.

'Jetlag, beautiful.' He replied and I nodded. 'Sleep, now. We have a case we need to solve.'

And with that, I drifted off to sleep, in the arms of a man I knew for not even twenty-four hours – but deep down, it felt like I had known him my entire life. Something was ringing in the recesses of my mind, telling me that there was something completely different about Will – but the sensible part of my brain, the part that is scared of Savants and is terrified of my lack-of-control told me never to investigate. But that would be an issue for another day.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

I woke up the next morning when my alarm went off, very quickly rolling out of Will's arm to mute my phone, before, rolling back. Will still had his arm around me, fast asleep. He had his phone on his chest where he must have been on his phone as he fell asleep. His dark brown hair was fluffy and going every which direction – and he had amazing eyelashes too. There was a small scar on his right cheek, around two centimetres long.

Realising I was just staring at him, I gently got out of bed, careful not to disturb him as I pulled the duvet over him. Quickly, I wrote down on a piece of paper _"Had to go to work, when you wake up call me and I'll come and pick you up. Sleep well x"._ I hesitated before I put the kiss at the end, leaving it on top of his phone, closing the bedroom door and getting changed into a hoodie and jeans I had on the washing pile, before heading out the door. I could normally make myself look decent in the car at work.

/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\

I had barely got to my desk before Alice appeared next to me. I looked at her, continuing to eat a croissant.

'So.' Alice said. I looked at her and she smiled at me. 'I see you clocked out late last night… Will clocked out at the same time. I also wanted to make sure you got home safe, and Will got to his hotel fine… but, this is a bit weird, Will didn't check into his hotel.' Alice said to me and I took a sip of my coffee.

'What are you suggesting?'

'That Will Benedict got hit by a train at night.' Alice said and I laughed.

'I couldn't be arsed to drop him off last night, he stayed at mine.' I said gently.

'WHAT.' Alice shouted and everyone looked at her.

'Shh?' I said and she sat down on the floor next to me, looking up at me. I sighed. 'Nothing happened, I took him home with me saying I'll sleep on the settee. We were talking about… stuff and he thanked me for letting him stay with me last night. We eventually ended up kissing and shared the same bed.' I saw Alice's face drop as I took a sip of my coffee. 'Didn't do anything, don't worry.'

'How did you sleep? Were you on other sides of the bed?' Alice asked and I shook my head.

'No, I fell asleep cuddling him.' I said, shaking my head.

'You did what?!' Alice hissed at me.

'I left a note telling him to call me when he wakes up and I'll go and pick him up.' I said and Alice's mouth dropped.

'You're like a married couple already! Could he be your Soulfinder?' Alice mumbled to me quietly and I looked at her. 'You're the same age roughly, you know you were born in March but the date is unknown to you because of the whole orphanage situation. Will was born in late March, and not only that is he is from a very prestigious family of Savants. I know you're scared about everything Savant and with your past and your gift, that's fair – but Will seems like a genuine guy and I can bet my ass last night was the first night in forever where you actual slept properly, and you weren't awake every hour?' Alice whispered to me.

'I… I don't know.' I whispered backed. 'I didn't wake up at all last night. I felt safe. I dunno, something is different about him. I kept thinking that but I'm too scared to go down that road. Everyone I get close too I end up hurting. The only exception so far is you.'

'Yeah, it just proves that – perhaps – when you are really close to people, you won't hurt them. Have you told Will what you can do? What you've done in the past, that is?'

'No. He'd hate me forever. I'm banned from the Net, the very same thing his family owns and runs. Hell – his brothers were the ones that banned me for being too dangerous and having a banned gift. Even if Will accepts what I do and that's all fine, his family won't and he will never go for me over his family. That's if he likes me, which is highly unlikely.' I explained as my phoned buzzed.

'He hugged you all night, he likes you.' Alice said as I checked my phone. I had a message from an unknown number; _I hope you don't always leave strangers in your flat unattended – I would have thought a detective would have known better Fin x._

'Loverboy?' Alice asked and I nodded. 'You need to go and pick him up?'

'I guess so then, yeah.' I said, putting my jacket back on.

'Finley?' Alice said and I looked back at her. 'Give Will a chance, trust him. You are happier than you have been for years. What's the worst thing that can happen? You have an amazing month, you smash a case, and you never see him again? Still seems like a good time.'

'God, are you giving me relationship advice now?'

'Depends, do you wanna be in a relationship?' Alice said as I gave her a dirty look. 'See you later, Sarge.'

 _"Had a nice lay in? x"_ I replied back.

 _"I did, but I woke up and you were gone, and I was very scared someone kidnapped you. How did you sleep beautiful? X"_ I smiled at the message but didn't know how to reply.

 _"I'm leaving now to pick you up, I'll be an hour. Feel free to have a shower and help yourself to whatever is in the fridge x"_ I promptly text back before unlocking my car – amazed that somehow I managed to walk down 3 flights of stairs into the underground carpark before I even realised I was by my car. As I started up my car, slipping my seatbelt on, Will replied.

 _"I'll make you a cuppa x"_ Will simply said as I put my phone down, blushing and feeling the butterflies in my stomach. Did I like Will? Had I started to gain feelings for a guy that had been in my life for… twenty-two hours?

The drive home was long – despite the lack of traffic. I was getting excited to see Will again, and then regretting everything – I hadn't had a shower that morning and my make up look awful but I wanted to make an impression. I cared about him. As I turned my car off, I hit my head against the steering wheel gently. I care about Will – why did I have to do this to myself.

I very quickly got out of my car and jogged up to my apartment, putting the keys in the door. The second the door opened I saw Will appear around the corner of the corridor. His hair was damp, but he was changed into a pair of jeans and a tighter fitting top, showing his muscles. He was built to perfection, I swear.

'Hey, sweetheart.' Will said immediately and my heart just melted. 'Made you a cupper.' He said, gently passing it to me. I took a sip as he stood there, smiling at me, his hand on my back.

'Thank you.' I said and he smiled at me gently. 'How did you sleep?' I asked and he nodded.

'Good, yeah, good. Very good with you by my side.' Will said as I walked into the kitchen, resting the cup of coffee on the table as I turned around. Will was right there, behind me. 'Amazing, actually.' Will said as he moved his hand to gently touched my waist. Alice's words were repeating in my mind – what's the worse that can happen? I stepped forward and kissed Will. His arm very quickly moved and held my waist, pulling me in closer as he kissed me back. I don't know what came over us but Will gently pushed me against my wall as he deepened the kiss. It was weird; I felt home being that close to Will, and the kiss was amazing. My knees gave way slightly but Will held me up, but it felt like I suddenly had a purpose. That I wasn't lost anymore. Will pulled away eventually, still holding me close.

'What's got into you, hey?' Will said softly.

'Sorry.' I whispered back.

'Don't apologise, sweetheart.'

'Look, Will, I think there's something different between us. I don't know why I say that and I hope you feel it too so I'm not just being weird. I dunno what it is and it scares me.'

'Fin, I was thinking the same thing.' Will said. 'But the whole thing, I think, is to do with Savants. And you're not ready for that, and that's fair enough. Whenever you're ready, we'll look into it. Until then, let's just go with the flow, yeah?'

'Yeah, let's just go with the flow.' I said as Will kissed me again. 'We do need to go to work though.'

'Come on then, I haven't got a UK drivers' license yet.' Will joked, taking my hand.

/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\

Will and I got on like a house on fire. In the mornings, we got ready and headed to work, Will working near enough non-stop on the missing pearls case, calling his contacts in the FBI whilst I worked with him several hours a day, and the others on my other open cases. In the evening, we went home, one of us cooked dinner or we ordered in, and we went to bed sharing the same bed as we did the first night, normally ending up with Will spooning me or me cuddling into his chest. I had kept Alice and Mitch informed – Alice as my only true friend, and Mitch as my superior who needed to know about workplace relations, as well as someone I could look up too and trust. On the other hand, I knew Will had mentioned me to his parents and some of his closest brothers, and everyone seemed to generally agree we could be Soulfinders.

Two weeks into Will's stay, the heavens opened and blessed us all with a good foot or so of snow – enough for the office to close. Will laughed at how unprepared Ireland was for snow and how the world had ground to a halt when we had a dusting of snow. But nonetheless, we got changed and decided just to go for a nice walk down into the local town for coffee – which he treated me too. We got home, got warm, and it was that night when I was in the crook of his arm, a blanket over our laps that I felt comfortable enough to tell Will about my past.

'Will?'

'Mmm?' He said.

'You know I said when I'm comfortable enough, I'd tell you about my gift and my past?' I mumbled and Will nodded – I could feel his stubble moving across my hair. 'Can I tell you about it now?'

'Yeah, yeah of course.' Will said, muting the TV and adjusting how he sat so he was facing me. I very nervously took a deep breath. 'What's up then, Fin?' Will said, gently stroking circles on my leg.

'I don't know where to begin.' I laughed nervously, my breath sounding staggered. Will nodded.

'Tell me about your gift then, poppet.' He said ever so softly and I nodded. 'Whatever you tell me, it won't change my opinions on you, I will still really like you after, okay?' I nodded again. 'So what do you do.'

'It's referred to as the Devil's gift.' I said and saw Will frown at me. 'See, I knew you would hate me.' I started to panic.

'No, no no. I was just confused and shocked. I don't hate you.' He laughed slightly, standing up before he picked me up, and then sat down with me on his lap, pulling the blanket over my shoulders. 'Tell me more.'

'So I can manipulate peoples minds, do whatever I think they should do, and can completely reprogram their brain. So I can make them pick up a coffee or turn them back into a toddler. But, I have little to no control over it. The second I get angry or sad or any extreme emotion, I lose the little control I have on it and make people forget me, or wipe their minds completely.' I whispered, and Will nodded.

'Wow.' He said. 'That's pretty impressive. Explains a lot as well.'

'What do you mean?' I asked.

'Well, I can sense danger, and with you, I can sense when you're getting upset or anxious or depressed or whatever, because you start coming up as a danger to yourself. I've wondered what it was, but that makes sense now. So what happened to your parents?' Will asked me and I cowered into his shoulder.

'I was seven, I was reading a kids book I got from the library and the kid before me who had ripped out the last two pages. I got so angry that I would never find out how the book I spent so long reading ended I wiped my parents and five siblings minds and they all forgot I existed. They were horrified when I suddenly appeared and called the police saying I was a lost child in their home. My oldest brother, Daniel, wasn't home when the incident happened, and he took me down the local orphanage and left me there.' Will hugged me tighter. 'After that, all care homes the same thing happened, I got angry or upset, caused havoc, got moved on until I moved in with friends, but the cycle continued. I just ended up living by myself – it was much safer.' I explained.

'Why didn't you apply to the Net? They would have helped you, found you somewhere safe to live with other Savants?' Will asked.

'I did apply. I got rejected.' I mumbled.

'Wait, what?'

'I applied twice, once when I was fifteen, the other a few years ago. Got rejected both times as I had a gift that wasn't reflective of their beliefs and caused more harm than good. I got banned the second time around, told I couldn't apply again.' I said and Will frowned.

'But… my family go through all the applications?' I nodded 'Who declined you?'

'I don't wanna say.' I whispered.

'Fin…' Will said and I could feel myself starting to slip.

'First by Saul Benedict because I couldn't get a reference, the other by both Trace and Victor Benedict.' I whispered and I could feel his horror. 'Are they related to you?'

'Yeah, Saul's my Dad, Trace and Vick are my brothers. Did they decline you? All three of them? They know better than that, they know someone's gift doesn't define them… Fin wait, calm down for my poppet.' Will very quickly changed his tone when I started crying, equal parts upset about the conversation at hand and getting upset I could feel the control going again. Will just held me tight. 'Let's focus for a second and calm down, yeah?'

'No, Will, go, I'm losing control – I don't want to lose you. Please, go, I can't lose you.' I cried into him and he just hugged me tighter.

'You won't lose me Fin, but I'm not leaving either. We're going to try and calm you down now, sweetheart. Now, we're going to focus on our breathing, okay? You're gonna breathe in when I say, and out when I say. We're going to prove to you that you do have control of your gift. So, breath in for me. Actually, do it.' I laughed slightly as I did it. 'Now breath out.'

We sat there for near enough an hour as Will calmed me down, making me put on his hoodie to keep me warm, slowing down my breathing and stopping me crying. Eventually, I just sat on his lap, exhausted – but he remembered me and I didn't lose control. Will sensed that I was a danger to myself and calmed me down. For the first time, I knew I was slipping but I didn't use it – I didn't use my gift.

'There we go.' Will said, holding me close. 'Told you I won't leave, and see, I still remember you.'

'I've never lost control and not hurt someone.' I whispered.

'You have now.' Will said gently.

'Thank you, Will. It was only because of you. You sense I was in danger and you calmed me down. Thank you.' I said.

'You know about Soulfinders, right, Fin?' Will asked and I nodded. 'And how your gift develops when you're with your Soulfinder – what if I sense you before you went past the point into no return, and you had more control because… well, you're getting the drift.' Will explained.

'Yeah, I've been starting to wonder that.' I said, looking up at Will. He smiled at me. 'But what if we aren't?'

'It won't change anything. It'll just be good to know one way or another. Let's just give this a go, yeah?' He explained to me gently, keeping hold of me on his lap.

'Okay, yeah, sure. How do we do this?' I asked and Will just held me to his chest.

'Keep calm, Fin.' Will said. 'Don't panic about anything, we can work it out.'

'Can we?' I mumbled.

 _Of course, we can._ Will replied telepathically and I jumped back my mouth open. It felt like I was hit with lightning. I knew Will felt it too and I wasn't being dramatic as he just grinned at me, holding me closer.

 _Guessing that's good?_ I asked and he laughed.

 _Very good._ Will said before kissing me hard. 'Hey, Soulfinder.'

'Well, shit. Now what?' I asked, laughing, but leaning against his shoulder. After all these years of feeling lost and lacking without a family or friends, at least now I had someone who understood my gift and could work it out and, unlike my family, wouldn't give me up – or so I hope.


	4. Chapter 4

**Will's POV**

I laid in bed with my newly-found Soulfinder, feeling like she should have been in my life from the start. Even now, when she was fast asleep, she curled up into me. Her long blonde hair fell in curls across my arm messily, and I could see her freckles even in the dark. She was tiny, though, at only four foot ten there was over a foot in height difference between us – and she was thin as well. I knew Finley had mentioned never eating properly because of her horrendous work schedule (and by that, I mean she didn't have a work schedule) and I knew that was something I had to change. I had to nudge her a lot to get her to do basic jobs around the house – like getting in the shower and having breakfast before she leaves for work – but it was something I didn't mind.

I knew when I got called over to Ireland for the case and got assigned Finley as a work partner that she was different – the second I saw her blatantly ignoring me as her co-worker stared at her, eyebrows wiggling, I knew it was something else. It was also in the way we got on – we clicked immediately. And the first night I stayed with her, in the same bed and she curled up as she did now, I spent a good couple of hours just looking at her, admiring her before realising how creepy that was and continued doing work.

But now we knew for sure – she was my Soulfinder and suddenly everything my brothers said when they found their soulfinders made sense. I always laughed and took the piss when they said they just knew and there was something different and you could never go back to living life without them once you found them. But I understood it now and owed everyone an apology. I couldn't live without Fin anymore.

Although her name was the most Irish thing I have ever heard.

I immediately pulled out my phone, turning the brightness down not to wake Fin up and put Zed, Yves and Xav in a group chat together.

 _"I need your help with something."_ Was all I said.

 _"What have you done in Ireland? You're literally working at a police station, how have you messed this up?"_ Xav replied.

 _"What do you need?"_ Yves thankfully chipped in.

 _"Found my soulfinder, but she's been banned from the Net for being too dangerous – and get this, Dad was the one who originally declined her application when she was a kid and Vick and Trace both banned her when she reapplied a few years ago, despite never talking to her about her gift at all. So I need you to reinstate her whilst I destroy our older brothers."_ I replied back and let it sit for five or so minutes whilst Fin still laid on my chest, fast asleep.

 _"Firstly, congratulations – but more pressingly, what the Hell is her gift if Dad declined the application of a child?"_ Xav replied and I sighed. The other two said congratulations and wanted to know more about her.

 _"Thanks guys, she's brilliant, she really is. But she's had a fucked up life. She's got the Devil's gift as it's referred to in the net, she can completely manipulate peoples minds, do whatever she wants with them and so on. But no one ever taught her how to control her gift. Her parents sound like arseholes, they refused to let their kids interact with their gifts and seven-year-old Finley got angry at the end of a book and just wiped her families memories of her – so her parents and five of her siblings at the same time. They all thought she was a lost kid. Her older brother, rather than fixing the situation, dropped her off at an orphanage. From then, she's been chucked around foster homes and when she was old enough to leave care, they just let her do her own thing. All roommates she had, she's accidently made them forget her – to the point she just lives on her own now, wanting to keep others safe. She's not a danger though, she's a Detective Sargant at the office I'm working out and a very esteemed one to say the least. She's constantly on the ball and her gift allows that – she has no criminal record whatsoever."_

 _"Jesus Will, how is her control now?'_ Zed asked.

 _"Still not the best, she nearly had an incident earlier but we got it under control. She is very quick to panic. She was telling me about her past and she put the dots together that it was Dad, Vick and Trace that banned her and she didn't want to tell me about it. I got angry at them, she thought I was angry at her, and starting panicking as she felt her control go and she didn't want to lose me, and spiralled out of control. But we pulled her back – it's definitely something she can do. Being rejected twice didn't help her in the slightest."_ I replied back.

 _"Where is she now?"_ Xav asked _. "Is she still with you?"_

I took a picture of her asleep on my chest and sent it.

 _"Yeah, she's still here but she is sound asleep."_

 _"She looks absolutely beautiful, mate."_ Zed replied.

 _"I can try and get her reinstated into the Net – what's her full name?"_

 _"Finley Loughlin, she doesn't know her parents and her application would have been as an orphan so that should narrow it down. Thanks, Yves. I'm gunna talk to Dad now and see what he says about it."_

Deciding it was better to call Dad then try and message him, I got up out of bed and headed into Finley's lounge, dialling Dad as I went. Thankfully, even though it was one in the morning here, it was only six in the evening back at home so Dad picked up very quick.

'How's it going in Ireland, son?' Dad said as I picked up the phone.

'Good, yeah, real good but this is more of a rushed phone call. It was, like, ten years ago, but I need you to answer some questions for me real quick. I need to work out who to kill – you, Vick or Trace.' I said and I heard Dad take a deep breath.

'Right, what's happening Will?'

'I found my Soulfinder.' I said gently and heard him inhale as I laughed gently.

'What! Congratulations, Will, tell me all about her!'

'Her names Finley, she is incredibly shy and is smaller than Sky believe it or not. She's a highly esteemed police detective sergeant in Ireland, and she's banned from the Net.' I said.

'Banned from the net? What did she do?'

'She didn't do anything, it's her gift.'

'What gift has she got?'

'You refer to it as the Devil's gift.' I said and heard the silence.

'Oh.' Dad said and I nodded. There was a heavy silence and I dreaded the worst; my father and I were extremely close, and the idea he might not approve of Finley really got to me. But he quickly spoke up. 'I think I remember her application, actually, I remember thinking about it a lot as she was just a kid that everyone looked over, and I didn't want to do the same. She applied when she was a teenager but she couldn't get a reference for her behaviour so I had to cancel it off. It was nothing to do with her gift, she just couldn't get the reference we need when there's no biological trace in the family. I just told her to apply again when she was eighteen and is legally an adult, so she could justify her own behaviour without an adult and she seemed okay with that. I never banned her from it. Is her name Finley Loughlin?'

'Yeah, that's her.' I said, already planning Vick and Trace's death.

'She seemed lovely, very apologetic for not being able to get a reference. I remembered having a soft spot for her as she was the same age as you but you were on completely different worlds at the time. I spoke to her a few times, very strong Irish accent, but very well spoken for someone in her situation. So, what happened after?'

'She reapplied and got banned because of her gift – the people who signed it off was Vick and Trace. And they know they can't ban people just because of their gifts.'

'They know better than that.' Saul said. 'Do you need me to get her reinstated?'

'I think it would help her. At the moment, she thinks no one trusts her with her gift. I think if she got accepted into the Net, it'll show at least some people trust her.'

'You do know how dangerous her gift can be though, Will?'

'I know. She nearly had an episode earlier but I managed to sense it early on and calmed her down. I think I can actually help her.' I said. 'She uses her gift ever so slightly at work, she's a detective Sergeant, so she can control it when she needs. It's just every so often at extreme emotion it slips.' I explained.

'Well, you know we will welcome her into the family with open arms. How is it going to work when the case is over and you're back over here?'

'We haven't discussed it yet.' I knew we would have too in the near future; Finley had an amazing job over here and people who respected her, but I had my entire family and a job in the states. 'Need to kill Vick and Trace first for declining her.'

'I'll let you call them, try and take it easy on them.'

'Oh, I won't. See you later, Dad.'

'See you soon son, and congratulations again.' Dad said before I hung up, immediately dialling Vick, knowing he would have been the most likely to decline the application. Trace probably read it, sent it to Vick and Vick would have been the asshole to judge Finley, and ban her.

'Well nice to hear from you – how's Ireland?' Vick said.

'Not overly in the bests of moods with you at the moment, Vick. You declined someone from the Net a few years ago based solely on their gift – why?' I asked, amazed at how angry I was. I heard Vick sigh.

'What was their name?' Vick said moodily.

'Finley Loughlin.'

He paused as he typed something – I'm guessing searching her up on the database – and then he sighed. 'Oh, yeah. Her.' Vick said and I nearly lost my shit there and then with him. 'People like her have no control over their gift whatsoever, and she has a very dangerous gift, and she has a dangerous past. We can't accept her.'

'Oh no, you will accept her back into the Net. You can't ban people based on their gift.'

'No, I banned her based on her gift AND her lack of control. She admitted she doesn't have full control! Obviously, I can ban her for that. Why do you care, is it someone you are working with calling in a favour? Because we can't just pull in personal favours.'

'She's my Soulfinder.' I growled and there was silence.

'Oh.' Was all Vick said.

'So, Yves is reinstating her now.'

'Wait, Will, you do know how dangerous she is? She made her entire family forget her when she was just seven. _Seven._ She has to live alone because she has wiped clean every flatmate she's ever had.' Vick said.

'She also is a highly esteemed detective in charge of a major police precinct in Belfast, and the kindest person you'll ever meet. We barely knew each other and when she found out I had to go 2 hours on a train at night to my hotel, she offered me to stay at hers. She has taken me too and from work every day since, and she has sat down with the victims of crime for hours on end. We also got snowed in today, and she bought 3 homeless men coffee on the street and made sure to pick up some milk and bread her elderly neighbours who couldn't get out of the house. Now, does that sound like someone who is a criminal liability?'

'No.' Vick said 'But…'

'No buts then, even Dad said you can't ban someone based on their gift. Finley isn't dangerous – she's four foot ten, what is she going to do? Stab someone in the knees?' I said and Vick sighed.

'What do you want me to do about it then, Will?' Vick said. 'You can reinstate her so I don't know why you're phoning me to bitch about it.'

'I want you to personally email her and apologise. Yves is getting her reinstated now, but I want you to email her and apologise for banning her and explain it was wrong.'

'I'm not doing that.' Vick said.

'You are.' Was all I said as I hung up, putting my phone back down on the settee, checking the time; two in the morning. But I wasn't tired. I checked out the window of Fin's apartment and saw the snow had stopped but was still settled on the floor. It really wasn't that much compared to what I am used too, but it was enough for everything to come to a halt.

'Will?' I heard a very faint whisper and turned around. I saw Finley, just in her pyjama camisole and a pair of shorts, standing in the doorway. She rubbed her eyes as she started shaking – the chill getting to her. It was still freezing where she left the window open in the living room. 'Are you okay?'

I immediately jumped up, grabbing my hoodie from the side before I wrapped it around her shoulders before I hugged her. The top of her head coming up to my chest and that was it. I held her tight, still unable to get over Finley. She was my Soulfinder, the woman I was meant to grow old with – eventually marry and have children with. The thought normally scared me, but knowing it was Finley I was meant to do all of that with made me excited for the future.

'I'm perfect, just was sorting some stuff out.' I said to her.

/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\

 **Finley's POV**

'What kind of stuff?' I asked as I yawned, Will hugging me before helping me put on his hoodie. He gently led me to the settee.

'Just stuff at home, calling the brothers and so on.' He explained to me, gently leading me to the settee. I curled up into him, starting to shake with the cold. Will very quickly moved the blanket around my shoulders, letting me curl up into him.

'It's two in the morning, Will.'

'It's, like, seven in the evening back home.' Will explained.

'No, Will, I meant it's two in the morning. _You're_ awake at two in the morning. You can't blame jetlag anymore. What's up?' I asked him and he sighed.

'I was phoning my Dad and my brother about rejecting your application.' Will whispered and I shuddered. 'Don't worry about it anymore. Come on, shall we go back to bed now? We might have work in the morning. We have a case to solve.'

'We also have a party to go to.' I mumbled and Will made a noise, questioning what I said. 'Each year, all departments come together at the local city ballroom for a massive valentines day party. Mitch said you are also invited.' I explained. 'It's a glorified piss up.'

'My kind of party – you better be going too.' Will said to me and I pulled a face.

'I'll go for a few hours I guess – it's two days time. I haven't got anything to wear.'

'Go in this.' Will said, touching my stomach and waist, gesturing to my camisole and pyjama bottoms. 'You won't be trying to pull anyone else, will you?'

'Nope.' I said confidently as Will pulled me up, guiding me back to bed. He got in first, gesturing for me to join him, as I got into bed and curled up into his arm. He pulled the duvet over both of us. It was silent for a while before I said what was on my mind for the last two weeks.

'Will, what's going to happen when this case is over?' I whispered my hand on his chest. He was well built, his stomach made out of muscles. I felt him inhale, my head rising as his chest did before he sighed.

'I don't know, Fin.' He said sadly. 'I can't lose you, not now.'

'I'm not that special if you want to go, you can.' I told Will and he sighed.

'Fin, you are my World. You are everything to me. I would willingly give up everything to come over here and live with you, it just needs some time to sort it all out family wise. I love you, Finley.' Will whispered and I looked up at him in shock. He… loves me? Will laughed gently, a brilliant noise. 'Of course, I love you, you muppet, stop looking so horrified. You are the best thing to happen to me. I didn't know what I was missing until I found you, and now I know that I never lived before you came into my life. The last two weeks have been brilliant, seeing you when I wake up and watching you curl up into my side. I don't know how we are going to deal with the next few months, but I promise you, I will come back. Whether you want to come to Colorado with me for a few months until we work it out, or stay here, we will work it out. Fin, you are everything to me. You are the woman I want to marry and to have children with if you want that, and the woman I want to wake up next too for the rest of my life. So no, I will not go. We can work it out. I love you too much to lose you, Fin.' Will said to me and I teared up.

'I love you too Will. We can work it out.' I whispered, taking a second to think about it.

'If I get you a job in the FBI doing what you do now, would you take it?'

'The FBI? Like, doing, FBI stuff?' I said and Will laughed.

'Yes, doing _like FBI stuff._ I run a division by myself and they've been on about getting me a partner to work with, keep me in check. Sounds like something you wanna do? It would mean you moving to Colorado, though.' Will told me gently. I thought about it for a second; realistically, I only had one or two friends over here – Mitch and Alice – and I wasn't horrendously close to either of them. I didn't have any family to leave, and in all honesty, I would be leaving a country where all my bad memories happened. Perhaps it would do me the world of good to move to Colorado with Will and start a new life?

'I guess so.' I said. 'I'm scared about moving and being out my depth and losing you.'

'Fin, beautiful, you won't ever lose me. You're stuck with me now.'

'But… my gift…' I whispered as I rolled over to look at him.

'We can work that out Fin. When we combine our gifts, we can work it out. I can sense danger, I can sense when you're close to losing it. We can work out the best way to calm you down from there. We'll work it out.' Will said to me. 'So, would you want to move in with me in Colorado?'

'Yeah, yeah I think I would – providing that's okay with you and it isn't going too fast and I wouldn't annoy you. I mean we can stay in separate rooms and it doesn't matter –' Will rolled over before gently cupping my hand and kissing me to shut me up.

'Finley, I would love you to move in with me.' Will said before he kissed my forehead.

'I dunno how to move so you're gunna help me.' I asked him, starting to fall asleep.

'It would be my pleasure.' He whispered to me as he rubbed my arms, trying to get me warm as I started to drift off, settling on the fact I somewhat agreed to move in with Will overseas.


	5. Chapter 5

The next day, I sat at my office desk somewhat regretting my decision I made yesterday to move. Across the World. With a man I knew for a few weeks. I had never met any of his family, I had no idea where he grew up, or any of his ex's. This is all stuff you're meant to move before you pack up everything, call it a day, and flee to the other side of the World.

But at the same time, I had nothing here. I wasn't proud of who I was. Sure, I had an amazing job and a house but I was nothing important. I never would define myself by having a boyfriend but with Will, at least I had something. I never knew what family was, I never had family to depend on. I had friends, but realistically I knew not to trust them at all. I couldn't. But with Will I had started to trust again and I couldn't lose that.

But then I couldn't move across the World for someone I had met by chance. I wasn't looking for my Soulfinder, hell, I wasn't even looking for a boyfriend but he just appeared by chance. He came to me to help work a case. So how can I be so sure I was ready? I wasn't looking for love, and now I found it, was I really willing just to blumber along and go with it?

'Wow, it is a rollercoaster in your mind today.' Alice said as she came over to my desk. I hit my head on the stack of paper I had on my desk. 'Where's loverboy?' She asked me softly and I nodded my head in the direction of the office. 'He doesn't need you today?'

'No, he is sorting out the other cases in Colorado today.'

'Right, then we're going out for coffee and sitting down and talking.' Alice whispered to me gently. 'I'll go clear it with Mitch.' And sure enough Alice got up, spoke to Mitch in his office for less than a minute before she came over to me, throwing me a jacket.

'Come on.'

We found our way to our favourite haunt – a coffee street several blocks away from the office. I sat down with my milkshake and a slice of cake as Alice sat down opposite me with the coffee and a brownie slice.

'So, what is up?'

'Is this moving too fast with me and Will?' I whispered.

'Why would you say that? You only agreed to move across the World with him. And he's excited about it – Mitch was telling me he was talking about it very happy.' Alice said and I closed my eyes. 'It is moving a bit fast, Finley.'

'I know.' I whispered.

'But on the other hand, he might be your Soulfinder. You haven't tried that. So perhaps you might be Soulfinders, then it might chance how you feel.' Alice whispered quietly.

'We tried last night.' I mumbled and she frowned.

'And?'

'We're Soulfinders.' I said and Alice grinned.

'Okay there we go. It speeds things up, how you're feeling and so on. Will's family move fast. His younger brother got married a week after they met. His other brother, the older one, within a few weeks. So perhaps, perhaps…. It's in his genetics to move things fast?' Alice said and I laughed. 'Look, I don't understand about this whole Soulfinder thing, I really don't, and no matter how unrealistic these relationships seem, it happens more than once. And your time is now. Will seems like a fantastic guy. Like, a proper brilliant guy.'

'He is. I nearly had an episode last night, and he saved me from it. I was begging him to go and he sat there with me on my lip and calmed me down. He spoke to me, calmed me down.' I explained and Alice sighed.

'So, your predicament, let's get this straight. You love Will. He loves you. But you only met three weeks ago, two weeks ago? Whenever. But this case will soon be tied over from this end of the pond, Will will head back to Colorado, and that is the issue.' I nodded. 'You agreed to move with him to Colorado.'

'It seemed like a good idea before the logic kicked in. He said he could get me a job in the FBI doing what I do now, I could stay with him, like, I could stay with him as well. Perhaps his family would become like mine?' I said and I shrugged. 'Not like two of them banned me for being a psycho or anything.' I whispered.

'What would you stay for, though? You've mentioned moving country several hundred times. Your job, your gift, you can do that anywhere, you're not just stuck in Ireland in the office doing what you do. Perhaps moving, jumping ship, isn't a horrendous idea. We all know Will would care for you, he's done an amazing job so far. I've never seen you eat breakfast and since he's arrived, you're actually eating before midday. No one can deny he's done fantastic things.'

'What would you do in my shoes?'

'Finley, your relationship with Will is progressing _so fast_. So fast. He's basically living with you now, you work together, you love each other. There is no doubt you two are meant for each other, even your gifts bring out the best in each other. But, are you willing to give up everything and I mean everything you know to move in with him, move across the world with him?'

'I dunno, he would protect me – I know he would. But, I'm scared. It's too soon. It's all moving too fast. There was meant to be first dates, second dates, getting a fish together, putting down a deposit on our first house, working all week to spend weekends together. All we've done is go on a few dates and that's it.'

'But you live together now, you go to work together, you spend weekends together. All you need now is a fish and you're ready.' Alice laughed and I looked at her before she got serious. 'I know it's moving fast with you and Will, but perhaps you are ready? You've wanted to leave Ireland forever, leave behind your past, leave behind everything negative and this is a killer opportunity Will has given you. A new job, doing what you love, in an amazing company. And you'd be with your boyfriend – or at this rate, your fiancé and the father of your ten thousand children.' Alice explained as I finished my cake.

'So, even if you don't move for Will, think about this – would you move to Colorado for your dream job?'

'I dunno.' I whispered.

'If Mitch came up to you, and told you today he had a call from the FBI and they offered you a well-paid job doing what you do, consider it a promotion, but you had to move over to America, would you?'

'I think I would, yeah.' I whispered.

'Right, and if they said you'd stay with an agent for a while, just so you get settled, then would you?'

'Yeah.' I said after a while hesitation.

'So why, when it's Will asking you these things, you're scared?'

'Yeah…' I realised what she said.

'Look, I love you to pieces and you are my only real friend. But I know you, and I know you are the happiest you have ever been despite being a brick wall when you're at work. The two Instagram posts you have posted are the most I've seen you smile. Look,' She pulled out her phone and showed me a photo that Will took of me when he threw a snowball at me, where I was ducking to one side and laughing at the same time. 'I love this photo so much, it's on my wall. This is you being happy, Finley, and you know why it's on my wall? I've never seen you smile like that.' She said and I looked down, tearing up. 'Will Benedict has done a number on you, in such a good way. He's taught you to look after yourself, to remember to eat, he's taught you how to love. And I need to thank him so much for pulling you back. You were becoming distant. And he's brought you back. So, even though it scares you that your relationship is moving so fast, would it be the end of the World if you move to America with him? You are clearly so happy with him which is why I am not doubting your relationship. You are both adults, you both have houses, he has a cat.' I laughed slightly, wiping away a tear. 'You can move over there and be happy and I know you will be. But if he goes back and you're still here, how long would you last? I've seen inside your head, Loughlin, I've seen how dark it gets in there, and how lonely it is. With Will, you are happy – but without? Especially now you've found him and you face losing him?'

I fiddled with the napkin, her words ringing true. I am lonely and so, so sad before I met Will. And now I am happy, I have a reason to get up and to have a shower. Will didn't save me, I didn't need saving, I could have done that all myself. But Will acted as a guide rope on the side of the cliff to getting better, someone to hold onto, someone to lean against when I needed help on the accent. And now I'm nearing the top, I had to decide if I wanted to plunge back down the mountain into the darkness, or continue up blind, with only the guide rope to hold onto.

When I put it that way, my choice was clear.

'Just, if you go, we have to remain in touch and I absolutely have to be invited to your wedding.'

That day, Alice and I spent in the city working a surveillance case, and Mitch agreed to take Will to my apartment for me. I rocked up home a few hours after I was meant too, and two hours since Will got there. I opened the door and he stood down the end of the corridor.

'Evening.' He said to me and I smiled. 'How'd it go?'

'Didn't get anything, got a few photos of the suspect though so I guess we can work with that.' I said and he smiled at me.

'You'll get them.' Will said before he came over and hugged me, kissing my forehead. 'Oh, Alice told me to give you something when you came in.' He said, walking into my kitchen and I frowned. Alice had spoken to Will earlier, but I wasn't entirely sure what about. He opened a freezer drawer before handing me a box of fish fingers.

'What's this?' I asked, confused.

'She told me to get you some fish?' Will said innocently and I looked at him for a second before realising our conversation earlier. I said all that was needed to get us to the stage of moving in was for us to get a pet fish or something. Alice must have told Will jokingly the best way to convince me to move over was to get me a fish. Will, obviously unable to understand Alice's Irish sense of humour, went out and bought fish fingers. I laughed and Will looked at me like I lost it.

'Inside joke?' He said nervously.

'Yeah, kind of.' I said before kissing Will.

'I really don't get Irish humour.'

'You don't need too, not for much longer.' I mumbled. I was very unsure about my decision but my talk with Alice seemed to make up my mind a bit more. If Mitch offered me the job Will was in America, in a heartbeat I would take it. I had nothing holding me down. So when someone I deeply care about offered me the same job, why was I overthinking it? If it didn't work out with Will, both Mitch and Alice said I can stay with them until I get back on my feet, or I'd have enough money to buy a car and a house in Denver when my apartment sells – turns out, houses are cheaper in America than in the city of Belfast. There was always a backup plan. It wasn't necessarily our relationship driving this move, but the job. It was a glorified detective but working on major crimes, high tiered crimes, that crossed borders – whether American borders or trans-Atlantic boarders with "allied" countries, so countries that America was friends with. It was going to be tough, but I guess that was where Will would come in.

 **/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\**

It was the day of the Valentine party at the local ballroom and all the detectives were due to go home early to get ready. As always, the girls at the office would meet up at Alice's house to get ready, do makeup and get a cab to the ballroom. I felt bad that I left Will to get ready with the guys, but considering Will at the moment was sitting in Mitch's office with coffee happily talking to him, I believe he should be fine. I smiled slightly from my desk as I saw Will look at me through the blind, winking and grinning at me before going back to talking to Will. Alice slid across on her desk and looked at me.

'How did it go last night?' Alice said.

'Did you tell him to buy me a pet fish?' I asked her and she smiled.

'You said you'd be ready if you had a pet fish!'

'Alice, you told him to buy me some fish… he bought me fish fingers.' I said and Alice started laughing.

'It's not funny, he was looking at me like I was an idiot. I was laughing over some fish fingers.'

'But the point is, he was willing to get you a fish.'

'He went to Iceland and bought me fish fingers, it's not the same thing.' I said and she pulled a face. 'I'm still uncertain what to do about the whole moving situation. Will got the paperwork up for the position in the FBI and it looks absolutely amazing.'

'You'd move for the job, you wouldn't move for the best thing to happen to you.'

'Would you move half the way across the world for someone you met a few weeks ago?'

'We argued this out yesterday. No, but would I move across the world to have an amazing job and to live with the man I love? Most likely.' Alice said. I just bit my lip. I knew people from school who got engaged a month of knowing each other, or people who lived together before they even started dating? This one girl went on holiday, met someone, and then just stayed in Australia with her now husband. It wasn't unknown.

I was scared of commitment, and moving to the other side of the world was the definition of commitment. I was scared of hurting people, and I have never been more scared than when I was with Will. So perhaps, I just needed to jump in deep. It can work out, and I know Will will do all he can in his power to make sure this works. I just needed to convince myself moving across the world with him was the best idea.

Alice looked at me, saw my hesitation before she moved on. 'Is Will going to the Valentines ball?'

'Mitch has told him he doesn't have a choice.'

'So you finally have a date. Cinderella will go to the ball after all!' Alice shouted and I grinned, hiding my face slightly as I blushed. 'You better be wearing something cute as hell. I would say sexy but I don't think you can pull of sexy… You're the height of a ten year old, that's just weird. You got matching underwear?'

'Alice, we're not going too…' I said. Alice looked over into the office.

'Really? He's looking at you like he wants you in his sandwich.' Alice laughed and I looked over at the office. Sure enough, Will was looking at me smirking slightly – but there was something deep about his glance.

'Matching underwear – just in case.' I whispered as I got up, grabbing my purse from the side and heading out the door.

 _Where are you going, beautiful?_ Will asked me softly.

 _Just going out to get something for tonight._ I replied back.

 _Will I get to see it?_ Interesting question.

 _Perhaps._

 _I look forward to it, then. Have fun shopping._ Will replied back quietly before cutting the link and I blushed.

That evening, we all got ready at Alice's as well as having pre-drinks. Alice had bought me a pair of matching underwear to my horror and I had decided to wear a small pair of heels and a strappy floral dress which gathered under my boobs and flowed down to just above my knees – and of course a pair of tights to attempt to keep me warm. Alice wore a suit which was tailored to her and looked amazing. The other girls from the office didn't look too bad, and we all ended up pretty drunk before we got in the cab.

'So, Sarge,' Elise asked me in the car on the way there. 'You and that American cop?'

'Nothing much is happening.' I said and Alice just sipped the wine she had in a plastic beaker whilst looking at me.

'Nothing much?' She asked back. 'Are you two together?'

I looked at Alice and she replied to me. 'Not officially.'

'But unofficially?'

'Sure.' I said and they all gasped.

'How's that going to work when he goes back to America?'

'No idea yet – we'll work it out and if we don't… we don't.' I simply said looking out the window, taking a sip of my wine.

 _Where is my beautiful girl?_ Will asked me and he sounded slightly tipsy.

A _m in the taxi, a couple of minutes away – are you drunk?_

 _Are you?_

 _Nooooooo._

 _That's my girl._ Will laughed.

We happily sat in the taxi and sung to songs loudly before we pulled up at the ballroom – which had been done up perfectly. We walked in for a second, the photographer asking all of the girls to pose together. I stood on the side, smiling on the side as Will appeared with Mitch before he stopped dead when he saw me. His mouth dropped as he looked me up and down before he smiled at me. The photographer thanked us before I walked over to Will.

'Wow.' He said before he kissed me. I blushed, fully aware everyone from work was staring at us. 'You scrub up amazingly, you look absolutely beautiful.'

'You don't look horrendous yourself.' I whispered back.

'Shall we go and get a drink?' He whispered, taking my hand and leading me to the open bar.

I got to about midnight, when Will and I decided to call it a night. We had more than our fair share of the open bar and was dancing all night together. We stood outside waiting for our taxi, Will's blazer around my shoulder. Somehow, his tie matched my dress. The photographer had already taken photos of us two together and had sent them to Will already.

'So, what did you go shopping for?' Will said, his hand running down my back.

'You'll find out eventually.' I mumbled and he frowned.

'Tonight?' He mumbled as he looked at me. I just smiled and he lent forward and kissed me. The second we got out the taxi, he smirked at me as I fumbled to unlock the door. The second we got indoors, Will pushed the door shut before he pushed me against the wall, kissing me hard. A few minutes after, he picked me up, carrying me to my bedroom.

The next morning, I laid under the duvet, the sheets covering my naked body. Will laid beside me, his arm around my waist but still sound asleep. My head was throbbing from last nights hangover but my mind was made. As I laid there, looking up at Will, it was very clear that I couldn't give this up. No matter how twisted my mind was at the moment, how to and through my mind was, I couldn't give up Will.

As scared as I was, I have to take the plunge and move to Colorado with Will.


	6. Chapter 6

**Four weeks later**

I stood next to Will as we waited in the arrival's hall for his father. The case had been tied up at the Irish end, and I had handed in my job notice to leave once his case was close, my flat was up for sale, my items had been packed up and were being couried over in the next month, and I had got on the plane no problems at all, falling asleep on Will like always. And now it had hit me. I guess it didn't properly hit me until now; I had struggled to sleep at night despite Will being there because I was nervous about the move. But even then, it didn't sink in. But now, standing in the arrival's hall, it has sunk in. Will gently found my hand.

'You look so scared.' Will said to me, gently tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. I wasn't exactly dressed for the occasion considering I was meeting all of Will's family; I was in a pair of fleece lined leggings and a hoodie. Will made me get changed in the bathrooms at arrivals, putting on a thermal baselayer, saying it was colder than I was used too out here. I didn't quite agree – Northern Ireland is pretty cold – but there again we are in mountains at the moment.

'What if I haven't made the right call?' I said and he smiled.

'Then we work it out, we'll move back to Ireland.' Will said to me. 'I won't leave you, we will work this out, okay sweetheart?'

'Will, over here!' I heard someone say and I flinched. A man came walking over; large in stature but not because of weight – he seemed powerful too. He was well over six foot, much like his son, and his face shone with excitement and years of wisdom. I could see him as a father figure already, but I also saw a lot of Will in him. Will's dad – Saul – hugged Will before he looked at me.

'You must be Finley.' Saul said before coming up and hugging me. I looked at Will with slight panic and he laughed. 'It is lovely to meet you, my sweet girl – how was the flight?' He asked me and I nodded.

'Good.' I said ever so quietly and Saul smiled at me.

'You were asleep the entire flight.' Will laughed as he came over, putting his hand on my back, gently comforting me. I looked up at him nervously and he smiled down at me, nodding, before kissing my forehead as I looked down at my shoes. Saul looked at Will and I knew they were speaking telepathically for a second as I looked around the busy terminal. What had I done? Had I made the right call moving here? Saul gently took my suitcase out of my hand as Will guided me outside to a giant car park, where we navigated to a giant looking car. I noticed that it was freezing and I could see some patches of snow, but Will did warn me even though there is loads of snow in Denver at the moment, the city was so well prepared it was hard to actually find any snow – the main issue would be once we hit the roads leading to his parents' house. I had become very thankful for the thermals I had on. Will's house, we decided, we would move into together when I had something other than a suitcase. We wanted to do it properly – so we said we would stay at his parents tonight, before heading back into the city to do some shopping and then perhaps stay as his own house in the city the day after.

'You cold there, Finley?' Saul asked me and I shook my head.

'She's a bit… quiet at the moment.' Will said. 'It's a big change for her.'

'I can imagine. I sent your mother out for the day so you two can at least settle in before the hurricane arrives.' Saul explained as he put my suitcase in the back of the car as Will opened the door for me. I climbed in (somehow) and done my seatbelt as Will got in the back with me, sitting next to me. Saul got in the front. 'She's very excited to meet you, Finley.'

'Don't scare her, Dad. At this rate, she might be going back on the plane to Ireland.'

'There's a 2:48 flight back if I need.' I mumbled, and Will laughed gently and Saul smiled at me, nodding slightly and I felt better somehow. Is this what it was like to have a father?

We pulled up at this amazing looking house in the middle of nowhere two hours later. I was watching out the window the entire time as we called into a small town with some name I couldn't remember, which was covered in snow. The town as stunning, everything looked like it was out of a movie. It was around three o'clock when we arrived and pulled up next to another car and I frowned. I thought we were meant to be alone – I suddenly got nervous thinking about meeting all of Will's family. I knew he had six brothers, with him being the middle child, and all of them had found their Soulfinders. Some lived in Denver, others lived around the world, and only the youngest brother still lived at home – but they had just finished their degrees and were probably looking to move out soon.

'Zed's home?' Will asked.

'I told him to go out today.' Saul said. 'He might have left his car here.' The engine turned off and Will moved across to the other side of the car, climbing out the door and coming around to open my door. He gave me his hand as he helped me out of the car. I immediately went to the back of the car and helped Saul with my suitcase, feeling too awkward to not help – I didn't want to be a burden or a weak female. Saul smiled and nodded to Will.

'I'm going to go and grab a coffee in town, I'll bring you both something back up.' Saul said as he smiled at both of us. 'We're not scary, Finley. You can trust us.' He said to me, gently touching my arm as he chucked his keys to Will.

'Come on then, let's go get a cuppa.' Will said as he opened the front door, leaving his suitcase at the bottom of the stairs.

'Dad, is that you?'

'Zed, you know he asked you to go out.' Will said up the stairs as someone who looked identical to him appeared – there was a slight difference between them, Will seemed a bit taller than his brother and had wider shoulders and was more built – but his brother, Zed – was it? – still seemed quite attractive. Well, gifted family when it comes to genetics, apparently.

'I know, I was out and then I forgot something and came back. I thought I would be okay time-wise – what time did you touch down?'

'Just before midday – Dad picked us up about one.'

'Oh, I thought you had a later flight. Sorry, I'll get out your hair.' Zed said as he came down before he stopped as I gently stepped behind Will, starting to panic about meeting people. There was a quick look between the two brothers before Will stepped to one side.

'You must be Finley. It's a pleasure to meet you.' Zed said, offering his hand for a handshake. I nervously took it before he let go, frowning at me slightly. 'Right, I'll get going now. I'll see you around, Fin.' Zed said before he left.

'Why are you so nervous?' Will asked and I shrugged, starting to cry. Will sighed and he came up and hugged me, gently holding my head. 'Oh, Fin.'

'I'm so tired.' I whispered to him. 'I'm so tired and confused, and I feel like shit.' I mumbled, feeling dizzy. My head started to hurt – throbbing, killing me. My vision went funny. And then I blacked out, only hearing Will say my name loudly, panic lacing his voice.

I knew I had passed out and had been out for a long time, because when I started to feel again, slowly waking up, that I was on something soft and not the hardwood floor that I fell onto. My head still hurt, my eyes hurt, everything hurt, but I was on something soft. I was warm as well, there was something heavy over my chest and my legs. And there was someone's hand on my shoulder.

'She'll be fine, Will. She's very stressed and tired, very high strung and she broke. She's just asleep, she can wake up in her own time.' Someone said over me and I immediately panicked. Was I in the hospital? I really did not like hospitals – I went once for a broken ankle when I was nine, and they kept questioning me all about my past. It terrified me. I knew all about my past, but I had to pretend to be the parentless child. What had happened? My head was splitting but I felt warm and comfortable. There was something covering my hand, keeping it warm.

'But she will be fine?' Will said from beside me.

'Yep, back to her Irish ways in no time.' Someone said. 'Did she mention she was struggling?'

'No, I knew she was nervous but I didn't realise it was this bad.' Will mumbled, his voice laced with sadness and I felt guilty. I didn't mean to upset him. I thought I was protecting him. In all fairness, I didn't think I was this bad – I had surprised myself.

'You didn't sense it?' The guy asked Will.

'I did literally just as she went, and I knew she was nervous, but not on this level.'

'Perhaps you need to talk about it with her? She'll be up soon I hope, so I'll disappear. But if she's blocked you gift from you knowing she's struggling…'

'I know.' Will mumbled sadly and I frowned. I didn't block his gift – at least not knowingly. But why did he sound so bad about it? Was the other guy suggesting I was dangerous and using my gift and Will kind of believed it?

'Anyway, I'll go and tell Mom. I hope she doesn't pass out when she next meets one of us.' The guy laughed.

Thanks, Xav.' Will said. 'I hope she won't again, she gave me a heart attack.' I heard the door close quietly and someone sigh beside me – Will. He held my hand, gently massaging my palm. There were a good few minutes of silence before he said something.

'Fin.' He whispered.

'Yep.' I whispered back, gently opening my eyes and looking at him, before squinting. There was no light, but it still caused a horrendous headache. I looked around quickly, realising I was in Will's childhood bedroom. It was very minimalistic; light cream walls and a dark green colour, with pine coloured furniture – a small double bed, wardrobe, and chest of drawers. There was a corkboard on the wall with some few things pinned to it and a plethora of books on the built-in bookcase. Will looked at me for a second before he leant forward and hugged me awkwardly before he kissed my forehead.

'Jesus, Fin, don't do that again.'

'What happened?' I whispered.

'You were overtired, overstressed, dehydrated, nervous. It all just piled up. When was the last time you slept – properly, I mean?'

'A week ago – when the move was official.' I whispered to him and he closed his eyes. 'It's not that I didn't want to move, Will, it's more I am scared – so, so scared. What if I did my thing to your family?' I mumbled. 'I can't hurt you, we know I won't do it to you, but if I do it to your family that would hurt you in a way that I couldn't even imagine.' Will sighed as he climbed over me before he pulled me into a hug as I cried.

'Fin, hun, you won't do that. I know you won't. You're safe. You are totally safe. I wish you told me about how bad you actually are.' I curled up into him.

'Sorry.' I cried.

'Please stop crying, Fin. You haven't done anything wrong.' Will said, hugging me to his side. There was a small knock on the door and a small woman came through and I knew in that instant it was Will's mother. Her face immediately lit up to see us both laying there like that.

'Mom…' Will said softly and she just nodded.

'I'll come back.' She said softly before she backed out of the room.

'And now I've fucked it with your mum.' I said and he kissed my head.

'No you haven't.' Will laughed.

'She'll think I'm a wuss.'

'She will understand you are tired and you've just moved across the pond. It is a huge move. Look, go back to sleep, I'll wake you up if we need you.' Will whispered and I shook my head. 'Fin, everyone will understand. Xav has probably already told them you're drained and just need to rest. They'll understand. This is a huge move you've just done, you're also jetlagged too, you haven't slept well and you're slightly ill. They'll understand, Fin, they will.' Will whispered to me as I curled up into him a bit more. 'Look, go to bed. It's, like, 2 in the morning back in Ireland. You can meet everyone tomorrow morning, a fresh start.'

'Are you sure?' I mumbled.

'Yep, go to bed.' Will said, hugging me close. 'I won't go anywhere.'

It didn't take long for me to fall asleep curled up into Will's chest like I am used too, feeling warm and comfortable when he was beside me, despite feeling lost.

The next day I woke up when it was still dark. I was laying on my side with Will behind me, hugging me. I checked the clock; 4:08 am. I sighed, cuddling up a bit more into Will.

'You awake, sweetheart?' He whispered to me and I nodded before I rolled over. Will was laying in bed, wide awake too.

'Why are you awake? How long have I been asleep?' I asked.

'Jetlag, I'm gonna say. It's like midday in Ireland. You've been out for hours, Fin, you must have needed it. You feeling any better?' He whispered.

'A bit, yeah.' I said and he nodded before he kissed me.

'Should we go and get coffee?' Will said and I frowned.

'Won't it wake everyone up? It's really early in the morning.'

'We can go to Costa in town, have a nice walk through the town.' Will said. 'It's a bit cold out so we'll have to grab you a coat, but it might be nice.'

'Go on then.' I laughed getting out of bed.

Will quietly snuck downstairs and grabbed me some clothes from our cases downstairs, just in case someone was awake downstairs. I dressed up in a weird tight layer he told me to wear to keep me warm, and a hoodie, and then a very thick ski coat and some warm leggings and snow boots. Will smiled at me and kissed me before he led me out the door. It was still horrendously dark outside and Will took my hand as we made our way down into the town. It was absolutely beautiful, fairy lights left up from Christmas were hanging around and the entire town was covered in snow. A few people said hello to Will, recognising him, but seemed surprised he was wandering around towns holding hands with someone. He ordered us a coffee to go before the sun started to rise and I stopped and smiled for a second before we headed back up to the house. It was a good couple of hours later, around eight, when we arrived back at his house.

'Everyone's probably awake.' Will warned me and I nodded.

'May as well meet them all when I'm buzzing with coffee.' I said and he grinned at me before he kissed me, unlocking the door.

'We're home.' Will called and his mum came immediately around the corner. Karla was around the same height as me, with brown hair and shining eyes and she immediately came over to me and hugged me tightly.

'Welcome to the family, sweet girl.' She whispered.

'Jesus, Mom, let's calm down shall we?' Will laughed.

'Karla - don't scare her.' Saul said and he smiled at me and nodded slightly, and I smiled shyly and nodded back. 'Breakfast, you two?'

'Depends who is cooking.' Will said.

'Sky is.'

'Oh, then yeah.'

'Zed's helping.' He added and Will stopped and made a noise.

'Perhaps not.' Will laughed.

'Hey, I'm not too bad.' Someone called from the other room as Will gently took my hand and led me into the kitchen, showing me where to sit. I watched as a small girl – still probably a bit taller than me – with waist-length blonde hair stood by the oven, cooking a fry up. The guy who I met yesterday before I passed out was beside her and smiled at me.

'He's only cutting stuff.' The girl reassured the room before turning around and smiling at me. She didn't say anything but there was a sincerity behind the smile. She turned back to cooking.

 _So that's my youngest brother, Zed, and his Soulfinder Sky. They found each other when they were sixteen. They've both just finished college and live half the time here and half the time at Sky's parent's house just up the road._ Will explained to me. _Sky can sense emotions, she knows how you're feeling at any time and Zed can read thoughts. Just keep your shields strong and you'll be fine._

Another man walked into the kitchen eating an apple before he stopped, looked at me, then Will, then his parents and then at the chefs at the oven.

'Who thought it was a good idea to let Zed cook?' The guy immediately said before he sat down next to Will, leaning his head on Will's shoulder as he mockingly hugged him to one side.

'Xavier, can you behave yourself for once, we have guests.' Karla scorned him.

'Eh, she's part of the family – she's not a guest.' The guy said – Xavier, I would guess.

 _And that's Xav, he's the one that checked up on you last night. He can heal and sense illnesses and so on. Saved me taking you to the hospital._

 _Jesus, I need to thank him then. Hate hospitals._

 _You're welcome, Fin!_ Xav suddenly interrupted and I hesitated before laughing slightly. Will continued to sit there, his arm around my shoulder, keeping me calm, and his other arm around his younger brother.

After we had a lovely cooked breakfast, Will suggested going for another walk, but this time in the woods behind his house. Zed and Sky decided to join us, obviously deciding it was time to get me to open up and start talking to people. We had just got past the gate to the back garden when Sky dropped back to talk to me.

'So, you are wondering if you've done the right thing moving yet?' Sky asked and I laughed and nodded.

'Oh, I was wondering before I even got on the plane.' I said and Sky giggled slightly. 'It's just… weird over here.'

'Oh yeah, you really don't get used to this. No matter how long you live here for.' Sky said.

'How long have you lived here for?'

'Six years now. Well, we moved into Denver for college but I've been in America for six years. Sally and Simon, my parents, decided to move over here to open up the arts centre in town when they were offered the job.'

'Why do you call your parents by their first names?' I asked.

'I'm adopted. My birth parents died in the fire when I was a toddler, my auntie took me on after that but she was a horrible person and left me at a service station when I was a child. I was passed around foster homes – no one wanted a screwed up a child – until Sally and Simon found me.' Sky explained and I looked at her.

'Oh, I'm sorry.' I said and she shrugged.

'What about you, then? How did you decide to leave your family?' Sky asked.

'I don't have any. I was seven, I was reading a book and the kid who borrowed the book from the library before I ripped out the last two pages so I never knew how the book ended. I got angry and accidentally wiped my parent's mind, and five of my siblings' minds too, and they forgot who I was. My eldest brother wasn't home at the time and when he came home, he dropped me off at the orphanage. I was passed around care homes after that but no one cared for me and I ended up doing the same to everyone else since. I just left at eighteen and lived by myself from there on in.' Sky looked at me.

'Well, we've both had rough pasts.' Sky said and I nodded. 'How is your gift now?'

'Not the best. I'm getting better, according to Will.' I said and she nodded.

'You got a good one with Will.' Sky said as we watched the boys ahead of us, talking as they walked through the snow. Will, every so often, turned to look at me – almost to make sure I was okay. 'He's very protective, very fast too. Everyone's got a soft spot for Will, so you've bagged yourself a good one.' Sky said and I knew she was being sincere. 'Are you feeling better? I heard you collapsed yesterday?'

'Yeah, I did, that's embarrassing. I was just very tired and scared, I'm a bit better now.'

Sky and I continued to speak for another hour or so when we continued to walk around the woods, talking about our childhood, our jobs and education, and just funny stories. I eventually felt like I could trust her and she was going to be a good friend. We went back into the house and Will took me into Aspen, the closest biggest town, so I could buy some more clothes. By the time we turned, a few other people had turned up. Will diligently introduced me to everyone, I went shy and mumbled hello's, but eventually, I started to get on well with a lot of Will's family. Although, Will didn't leave my side and kept the conversation going.

It got to the point I was in the living room with Sky, Will and some of his brothers and their partners, feeling extremely comfortable. The brothers who banned me came in about an hour ago. Trace immediately came up to me, hugged me and apologise for the whole Net situation. He explained to me he wanted to allow me in but he didn't know how too with my gift so he went it to Vick. I forgave him, it was clear he felt guilt – that was clear with how much he apologised. Vick, however, who came in at the same time, completely ignored me and sat on the other side of the room. But then, an hour later, he decided to pipe up.

'Finley, can I speak to you for a second.' Victor said as he stood up and left the room. I looked at Will and he shrugged. I nodded, following him out the room as he stood In the kitchen. Victor just looked at me and I stared him out.

'I'm not sorry for what I did – I banned you for a reason.' Vick said. 'And if someone tries to join again with the same history, I will ban them too.'

'Okay, why are you telling me this?' I said.

'Just so you know that you're the exception. The rules with remain. Finley, you are a dangerous liability. I know what you did back Ireland, I know you're still dangerous. And do I like that you're fooling around with my brother? Not in the slightest but I'll learn to tolerate it, but if you hurt him –'

'I won't hurt Will. I'll never hurt Will. I don't care if I'm still a liability if I'm still dangerous or whatever, I won't hurt Will, ever.' I said. 'I can learn to control it, I can learn not to lose control of my emotions, but I will never hurt Will.'

'He's my little brother, and I will continue to look out for him.' Vick said.

'I don't need to be babysat anymore. Fin isn't dangerous. And I do not need to talk to you again about all of this.' Will came out of nowhere and warned him, putting his arm around my waist.

'I was trying to set her off, seeing how good her control actually is.'

'No you weren't. You just don't like being made to apologise.' Will said.

'Partially, I was testing her, but I stand by what I say.;

'God, you're such a dick, you know that right?' I said to him and Will laughed as Vick just looked at me.

'You have to prove yourself, Finley, or no one in this family will trust you. Not properly.' He warned me.

'I trust her fully.' Zed said coming out into the kitchen. 'Sky does as well.'

'I trust her too.' Will said.

'Fine.' Vick said as he walked off.

'Did she just call Victor a dick?' Zed laughed and Will nodded. 'Balls of steel, Fin, balls of steel.' I smile at Zed as Saul walked out, watching Vick walk out the door before shaking his head.

'Right, you two, when do you want to head back to Denver?' Saul asked. We had decided to move back into Will's place in the city so I could move in now I had settled down. I was sleeping near enough normal times for the city, and we were due to start working back at the FBI in two days – Will stepping back from his leave for the gem case and me starting as his partner. And then… that was my life from there on in. Living with Will, working with Will. That's it.

'We can go now? We can go and see Dog.'

'Dog has missed you, apparently.' Zed added.

'Dog?' I asked.

'His cat. He named his cat Dog.' Zed said and I looked at Will.

'His name was KitKat, I got him from the shelter, but I just started calling him fake dog because he kept stealing toys and playing fetch, so now it's just Dog.' Will explained and I nodded – dear lord, my boyfriend has a cat he named dog, like a child. 'You wanna head home now? We can go out for dinner as well.'

'Yeah, go on then.' I said and Will nodded. 'Only if you don't mind leaving now.' I whispered back to Saul.

'Of course, I don't mind. Your cases are already in the car.' Saul said. So we said goodbye to everyone in the apartment before I got in front of the car with Will in the front and Saul sitting in the back. We were talking all the way into the city and then South. Eventually, Will pulled up in front of a house.

It was a detached house with a porch around the front and a garage on the side, with a car in the driveway. I knew Will said the house had two bedrooms and two bathrooms but was still quite small, but it looked like it was in a nice area. I was also slightly amazed at how good a condition his house was in, considering Will never even know how to turn on a washing machine. Saul got out the car and helped us take our cases out before he got in the driver's seat. Will simply handed me a key and I frowned at him.

'The key to your new place.' Will said before he kissed my forehead. 'Go on, do the honours.'

I nervously unlocked the door and pushed it open as Will took our suitcases inside. Inside was painted a magnolia colour with a dark wooden bannister up the side of the stairs on the right-hand side. As the door opened, I heard a small meow as a ginger cat came running down the stairs. Will gently knelt down beside me.

'Hello, Dog.' He cooed as the cat come up to him, smelling his hand before jumping up at him, purring. Will scooped up the cat before he looks at me. I gently fussed the cat – who stopped purring, looked at me for a second, and then continue to purr. 'Well, we can stay together now – the cat likes you.'

'What if Dog didn't like me?' I asked.

'We'd have to break up. Dog comes first.' Will laughed before kissing me, putting down the cat as he pulled our suitcases in. 'Tour?'. Will showed me around his house and it was very minimalistic; cream or magnolia walls with one or two art photos hanging up. But it was a beautiful house nonetheless. We unpacked our suitcases and bags of shopping we had got for me before we sat down with a cup of coffee.

'How you coping, sweetheart?' He asked me and I nodded.

'Actually alright.' I said and Will just looked at me. 'Seriously, I am fine, still got a bit of a headache but I'm dealing better than I thought I would.'

'It'll be the altitude causing the headache, I'll grab you some painkillers. But apart from that, you promise me you're dealing okay. It's okay if you're not, this is a big move and I know you were scared. If you hate it here, we can always discuss moving back to Ireland.'

'Will, I promise you at the moment I'm doing okay.' I said and Will leant forward and kissed me.

'Right, go put something pretty on, I'll take you on a date.'

'A date?' I said and he nodded.

'Yeah, absolutely, I'll buy you dinner, perhaps we can catch a film too? We have tomorrow off so perhaps a few drinks too?'

'We know what happened the last time we got drunk together.' I warned him and he smiled.

'It was a good night, _very good night.'_ Will said.

'Not so good the day after.' I said as I walked upstairs to get dressed, and Will followed me, showing me where to go despite the tour earlier, as he sat on the bed as I took off my top, finding a dress in my case. Will was meeting my eye, not looking down at my body as he smiled at me.

'God no, not a good day after.' He laughed. 'How do you look amazing in everything you wear?' He whispered, getting up and kissing me gently. Will got changed into a suit jacket and a pair of chinos before we caught a taxi to a small restaurant where they greeted Will by name. My stomach twisted as I thought of how many girls he must have brought here before me – but then I remembered we were living together, and that's quite a serious relationship. Will sat opposite me as we ate, chatting happily over the candle-lit dinner. He then took me to the cinema – something I had never done. He laughed as I sat confused in the chair before he realised I had never been to the cinema before.

'Never?' He asked as the adverts played and I shook my head.

'Well, once when I was six I believe, but not since.' I said and Will just looked at me. 'I'm not annoyed at my past, don't look at me in pity.' I laughed as he put his arm out and I curled into him. We watched the film before we decided to call it a night, jetlag still dragging us down heavily. We laid in bed, me lying on Will's arm.

'Fin?' He whispered to me.

'Yeah?' I whispered back as I rolled over into him.

'Do you think you've made the right call moving over here yet?' He said and I frowned.

'Do you not want me here?' I asked. 'I can go back to Ireland if you don't think we have, it's not a problem, it won't offend me.' I said.

'No no no, I love you over here, Fin. I just want to make sure you're doing okay with it.'

'I think I'm doing okay, yeah. Your family still freak me out, and Vick seems like an asshole, but I think eventually I'll be able to fit in somehow. I mean I still haven't started the job yet but… I like it over here.'

'Oh, I'll kill Vick over how he spoke to you earlier. But job wise, you'll be fine. It's exactly like Ireland. From now on in, it's just us two settling in.' Will said and I nodded. 'I'm proud of you, you took the leap, and you've landed on your feet.'

'I love you Will.' I whispered, feeling strangely at home in the house I had been in for a few hours, in a town I had never seen before, in a country I had only dreamed of visiting. But with Will by my side, I felt like I had been here my entire life.


	7. Chapter 7

Will parked his car in a designated spot under the building of the Denver office. I knew he was held his own department which specialised in trans-national crimes between allied countries which is why we worked together. There were around forty people under him – they weren't police but he explained that he was the Mitch of his area – almost the Detective Inspector of the Denver section. He did well for himself – that was explained by his new car and his lovely house in the suburbs of the city, oh and his cat.

'You look terrified.' Will laughed.

'I am terrified.' I added.

'You're working with me, what's the worst that can happen?'

'We have to keep everything secret, we can't tell anyone that we're living together, or that we're together.'

'Well, people genuinely don't get too happy when they find out you're sleeping with your manager.' Will laughed as he got out the car, with me following him out of the car.

'Put delicately there.' I laughed and he smiled, handing me a dark navy jacket as I put it over my shoulders. 'Is that all I am to you? A bit of sex on the side?' I joked and he looked at me.

'Oh, you know you're so much more than that.' Will said. 'For now, it's best to keep it off the radar. We have big cases going on at the moment and there are some young girls there who will refuse to do their work if they know somethings going on between us.' Will said as he gave me a lanyard. 'We'll just say after the case you decided to hang on over here.'

'The girls got a crush on you?' I said.

'Who doesn't?' He joked as he scanned our lanyards and entered into the lift on the east side, Will pressing the button for the fourth floor. When the door closed, he put his arm around me and kissed my forehead.

'You're not some kind of babe magnet, hun.' I said and he grinned at me.

'Well, I'm not anymore. I've got the woman I wanted, not gonna throw that away. Not in a million years.' Will said, kissing me again softly before he dropped his hold around my waist and the door pinged open. He walked out into his floor – and it was huge. A good three times bigger than my floor was in Ireland, and there were people milling around everywhere. People were in small pods and some were hunched over other pods, doing work I'd guess. I edged slightly behind Will as people started to notice their boss was back.

'Guys, listen up now.' Will said loudly and I looked at him – he was suddenly so much more attractive now he can get an entire room to listen to him in a second. I surveyed the room and immediately saw seven or eight girls, early twenties, that all started to hit each other as Will walked back in the room. They all looked at him like he was a Greek god. 'I'm near enough back from Ireland now, we haven't finished the case yet, but I've brought back the detective sergeant who was on the case with me, Finley Loughlin.' He said as he gestured to me. 'She will be staying here for a month or so or until we finish the case, so she will also be assigned some cases and will be working with you all. Please all be nice to her, she's very fragile because she is Irish –' I rolled my eyes and Will smiled. 'Anyway, back to work now.' Will said as he nodded me into an office down the far right side, using his pass to unlock it before letting me go in first. The door closed behind him and he closed the blinds, before he comes up to me, hugging me and kissed me.

'That went well.' Will said and I nodded.

'You pronounce my surname so American.' I said and he nodded.

'Yeah I do, if I say it properly it sounds _so_ Irish. It's beautiful when you say it, less so when I do.' Will laughed and I smiled. 'Those girls in the corner, they will be the ones to grill you. There's a desk free next to the bitchy one if you want to go have some fun. I've heard she's planned our wedding already.'

'Our wedding?' I asked and he shook his head

'No, my wedding to her. I mean, when our time comes we can use Natalia as a wedding planner?' Will joked and I rolled my eyes as he handed me a stack of paperwork.

'I'm just your glorified PA for now, aren't I?' I asked Will and he pulled a face as I opened the door.

'I love you.' He said as he sat down, looking at me. I made a noise and he grinned at me and my heart faulted, and I remembered why I fell in love with him.

'I love you too – sometimes.' I said and he smiled at me again as I walked over to the desk next to the girls. I knew in a heartbeat they were the kind of people who would have a crush on my Will. The girl I sat next to – must be Natalia – gave me a dirty look as I logged on the computer.

'So, you're the girl from Ireland, right?' She asked and I nodded.

'Yeah.' I simply said as I saw Will open the blinds in his office again, before leaving the office and heading down the corridor.

'And you worked with Will for the month on that secret case?' She asked, moving over to my desk a bit more.

'Yeah, I did.' I said back as I started flicking through the paperwork. Our missing gem case was taking its time – we had done extensive forensic work in Ireland and found locations in America where we believe the missing multi-million-pound gems were shipped too. We were in the middle of getting search warrants for buildings over here, having linked it to serial criminals in a small town in southern Colorado, but we were close.

'Alright, just so you know, a lot of girls here all like Will so that doesn't make you special. You're not Will's cup of tea anyway. He's part of a really bad family who likes bad girls and not small Irish lasses like you.' Natalia said. 'Just so you don't come in here and start flirting with him.'

'Okay… I'll… try?' I said, Will's words don't let anyone know about us rattling around in my head.

 _If she's being a bitch, feel free to spill the beans._ Will said from afar.

 _The whole "don't tell anyone" thing lasted well, didn't it?_ I replied back.

 _Yeah, I don't care anymore. Superiors said it would be alright to tell people when we're ready. Eventually, someone will find out, so we may as well be in charge. Destroy her world for me, sweetheart._

'So where are you staying for your trip?' Natalia asked.

'With Will.' I said and she looked at me.

'You're staying with Will?' She asked back in shock and I nodded.

'Yeah, he stayed with me when we were in Ireland so I'm staying with him.' I said and Natalia just looked at me. 'It's not too bad, he didn't really know how to work the washing machine, but he got there in the end. His Mum seemed to have thanked me for looking after her idiotic son.'

'You met his Mom?' She asked shocked.

'Met his entire family. We went for a meal.' I said.

'Who do you think you are, coming here and winding us up like that? I don't care if you're just the transfer for now, but Will and I? We have a thing. Everyone in the office knows we have a thing and I don't appreciate you coming in and being a cradle snatcher.'

'Natalia, leave her alone.' Will said, coming up behind me and putting his arm around my shoulders, handing me a cup of tea. He gently squeezed my hand before he squatted down before me.

'Warrants been granted, we're going to make a move tomorrow morning for a midday bust.' He mumbled to me softly, putting his hand on my lap. 'Zed's also called, double date tonight. Minigolf and dinner, apparently. We don't have a choice.'

'I'm going to assume Zed didn't organise that.'

'No, he didn't. The "no choice, you're going" rule also applies to him apparently. Meet me in the office in like, half an hour.' He stood up and kissed my forehead. 'and Natalia, stop talking shit.'

Will walked away, quickly saying something to one of the other guys who worked here before I took a sip of my tea – he made it the way I like it, milk and two sugars.

'So, you guys are together?' Natalia asked and I nodded. 'You said you weren't.'

'You never asked if we were together, you asked where I am staying and if I had met his mother.' I said. 'This was before you went on a rant about how I can't try anything on with him and that I'm not his cup of tea.' I mentioned.

'It won't last, he always has girlfriends on and off.' I played with the necklace he got me before we came to Colorado and she just looked at me. 'And when you go back to Ireland, he'll call it off.'

 _Is she still whining on about stuff?_ Will said.

 _Mate, she doesn't stop, does she? How have you not killed her?_

 _Want me to crush her even more?_ Will laughed.

 _Ah, she's already crashing, you may as well._

I saw Will stand up from his office as he walked out the door.

'Everyone, sorry, completely forgot to say, Finley is staying over here permanently and she's leading this division with me. She's just sitting over there for now because she didn't shower this morning and I'd rather not let her into my office when she smells.' Will joked before he came over to me and I shook my head at him. He squatted down beside me.

'Natalia, can you leave Finley alone now please?' Will said.

'Why, Will?' She said.

'Because I love her, that's why? And she's very, _very_ good at her job – that's why she's my partner for this division too.'

'Well, I can tell your superiors that you're dating her, you know you can't do that.'

'They already know, they were the ones that signed her over here. They've been trying to get her over here for years now. Just… understand that she is your superior now and she's here to stay, whether you get on with her or not.' Will explained. 'Come on, we may as well get you set up in my office.'

/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\

Will and I had settled down perfectly, working together during the week on different cases, but near enough constantly talking. The nights and weekends we were at our new joint home with Will's cat enjoying being together, having someone constantly there. Even at night, whenever I woke up in the middle of the night, Will was there, hugging me. Every so often, we went to his parent's house for the weekend or went to family meals, and eventually, I felt like I was becoming part of their family.

Middle of November, we decided to decorate the house for Christmas, buying a ridiculous amount of decorations and lights for outside our house and a real 8-foot tree, spending the week up hanging up baubles and lights and seasonal decorations. That night, I sat curled up into Will's arm as he hugged me, rubbing my upper arm constantly. He mumbled something as we watched Christmas movies.

'What was that?' I asked.

'I just said this is perfect. This is all I've ever wanted. I love you so much.' Will whispered before he kissed my forehead. I blushed as I curled up more into him as he readjusted the blanket over me. 'Who would've thought a year ago we would be here now?'

'God, not me.' I said and he just hugged me.

'And in a years time, who knows where we will be? We could have moved houses, got promoted or got entirely different jobs, or getting _married_.' Will said and I grinned before realising it sounded weird – like he was planning something and I turned around and frowned at him. He grinned at me before winking and I leant back even further – was he suggesting what I thought he was? 'What do you want for Christmas?'

'Um…' I said trying to shake that comment from my head. 'I dunno, I don't really know how Christmas' work.'

'In our family? We normally spend Christmas Eve –'

'In general.' I mumble quietly and Will stopped and looked at me.

'You've… never had a Christmas?' He asked quietly and I sighed.

'Well I remember one in my old house but that was, you know, Santa brought the presents then. We didn't do Christmas in any of the care homes, the social workers didn't overly care – they were in the business for money and only the odd worker got you a small present. And I decorated my house when I lived alone, I loved the warm cosy lights and a small tree, but I never did anything Christmas day.' I explained, playing with the bracelet Will got me.

'You never told me.' Will whispered as he played with my hair.

'I never saw the need too.'

'Well, screw it. From now on, it'll be different. You'll get lovely warm family Christmas's, presents under the tree and listen – I made a mean Christmas dinner. We can make our own traditions. This Christmas, I promise you – this Christmas will be different.' Will promised me softly, holding my pinkie.

Two days later, I sat at work in our joint office. Will had been sent out on a mission, linked to cases of robbery and importing and exporting stolen goods. That was a few hours ago. I finished my paperwork for my old cases, sending them off, before replying to important emails and then shopping online for Will. In the end, I decided to buy him a coffee machine for his office and a fancy new watch, as well as some clothes. I had just got to the checkout of Amazon, having bought some presents for the work secret Santa when there was a knock at the door. I had just also found the football boots Will wanted too. I nodded as the admin administrator came in.

'Fin, Will's been rushed into hospital.' He said urgently, and my heart dropped, my stomach twisted and my eyes filled with tears.

'Wha – what do you mean? He was fine earlier?' I said.

'The case went sour; the guy was armed. I think he got stabbed in the arm, he's in surgery now.' I had started to panic, fumbling around before closing the laptop down.

'Um, I'm gonna have to go.' I said, immediately grabbing my coat. 'Who was in charge when Will came to Ireland?'

'David is, he's third in charge around here after you.' Admin explained to me and I nodded.

'Tell him he's in charge again whilst we're out of the office.' I said, before turning off the light and fast walking into the stairwell, before running down the stairs and into the first cab I could find. It took a little of ten minutes to be taken to the hospital where I rushed into the reception.

'Hi, um, my boyfriend was taken here earlier – Will Benedict?' I asked in a rush and the receptionist just looked at me before typing into her computer. I tapped nervously on the desk, my mind immediately going to the worst. Will got stabbed on a mission. I had seen him hours previous, as he left. He was wearing his plain workout clothes – a pair of joggers and a t-shirt with the signature logo on the back. He kissed me as he left, telling me he loved me and he wanted to get fast food for dinner when he got back. And now he could be dead.

'Sister,' The assistant said, grabbing the attention of a senior nurse. 'This lady is here for Will Benedict, can you just take her for me?'

'Is he okay?' My voice broke as the sister took me to one side, into an elevator.

'Mr. Benedict is in surgery at the moment, but we believe he will be able to make a full recovery. He had a stab wound in his upper left arm, it was quite deep so we needed surgery to be able to stop the bleeding and repair the muscle damage. He should be out within the next hour. Will should be able to get discharged from hospital end of the week providing all has gone well and would need a lot of rehabilitation. I'll take you up to the waiting room and I'll tell the surgeons to come and see you once he's out.' The nurse explained and I started to shake as I got left in a family room.

The family room was completely empty and had around forty seats and a water cooler in the corner. The lights were dimmed slightly and had a table of magazines but the colours of the room look happy and calming. Nervously, I sat down on a random chair and curled up, starting to cry. Will was hurt – badly. He had to have surgery. His arm might never be the same. What if something goes wrong and they'll have to amputate? What if he never wakes up?

I have no idea how long I had sat there crying, but I jumped back when I felt a hand on my back. I looked up, wiping my tears as I noticed Will's older and favourite brother, Uriel, sitting beside me. He smiled at me before holding his arms out, hugging me tightly. He looked similar to Will, apart from the fact his hair was a very light brown, perhaps even edging on a blonde. And he was a lot less bulked up too. He smiled slightly as he kept his hand on my back.

'Will is going to be okay, Fin.' Uri whispered to me as I sobbed to him.

'No he won't.' I cried.

'Yes he will, you just need to calm down. If Will was here, would he want you to be crying and panicking about him?'

'Well, I wouldn't be crying if he was here.' I mumbled and Uri laughed. 'No, he wouldn't.'

'Come on, I'll go get you a coffee and then we will calm down, alright?' Uri said softly and I nodded, hugging myself as Uri got up and left the room. I had spoken to Uri quite a bit as Will was always around his house, with his wife and two-year-old daughter, Violet, or they were around ours. But my chronic shyness meant I never really sat down and had a long conversation with him. I wondered why he was here though, I would imagine Will's brothers would come to see him if he ever recovered but I never expected.

Uri eventually came back with the surgeon and I stood up.

'Is Will okay?' I asked in a small voice, that seemed to come from deep down inside me.

'He's out of surgery. We've stemmed the bleeding and repaired the tissue. He should be coming around in an hour or so. There will be a substantial amount of physiotherapy needed for Will to regain full use but he should make a full recovery. Come on, I'll take you up to his room.'

In all fairness, Will didn't look too rough. He looked a bit paler than normal and a bit more feeble, being tucked up into the hospital's bed. His left arm was over the blanket and I saw the massive bandage over his arm which already had a few patches of blood on. But he seemed okay, and just seeing Will lying there eased my mind slightly.

'Hey, Fin.' Uri said and I just looked at him. 'I'm going to go and call the family and nip home to get some clothes for him and you and feed the cat – I'm going to assume you aren't going home tonight - will you be alright here by yourself?'

'Yeah, yeah I'll be fine. Thank you.' I said and Uri hugged me again. I watched as he left before I sat down in the chair next to Will, leaning forward to kiss his cheek.

'Will, don't ever do that to me again.' I told him, playing with his hair. I don't know how long I just stared at Will, but eventually, he started to stir. I noticed he had started to hold my hand a bit more – not holding it but there was a bit more grip - and then frown, and eventually he opened his eyes and looked at me, smiling slightly.

'Hey.' He said deeply before frowning. 'How did I get here?' He asked before I quickly leant forward and kissed him, holding his face. Will lifted his uninjured arm to hug me gently.

'Don't ever do that to me again.' I said my voice breaking. Will frowned before he touched his arm.

'What happened?' He asked.

'You got stabbed, you idiot. You had to have emergency surgery to stop the bleeding.' I told him, gently running my hand over his bandage. 'You terrified me, Will.'

'Sorry, sweetheart.' He said and I bent forward to kiss him. 'My arm will be alright, yeah?'

'Should be fine. You can't weightlift for a while but everything will be fine. Will, you must be careful. I can't do this again. It's killed me off seeing you here.' I said and Will smiled.

'I'll be careful, I can't lose you.' Will smirked at me.

'Will, this isn't funny! You could have died, what if they missed your arm and hit your chest? You could have died on the mission, the n what? No one else was injured, it was just you.' I started crying and Will gently touched my face, running his thumb to wipe away a tear.

'Fin, I promise you I'll be careful from now on in.' He said softly and I nodded. 'Hey, I heard these beds are big enough for two.'

'Will…' I said and he grinned, scootching up as he flinched. I got up quick.

'Don't panic, it's gonna be sore.' Will said before holding his good arm. 'Come on, I'm assuming I'll be stuck in here for a while so I at least want my girl in my one working arm.'

Will was stuck in the hospital for over four days until he could prove he was able to function normally with his dodgy arm. The surgery scar had started to heal perfectly and he was able to lift stuff with moderate pain so he could be discharged. I had stayed with Will the entire time, with Uri feeding Dog each morning and night. I frisbee'd the holdall without clothes in over our shoulder as I put my arm around his waist, helping him to the car. It was a quick drive home – fifteen minutes if that – before I helped Will into the house.

'Fin, sweetheart, it's just my arm that's bad, I can still walk.' Will said and I turned around and rested my head on his chest as he hugged me. 'You must be exhausted.' It was true – Will was asleep in the hospital all the time but I couldn't sleep, not when he was in pain and in hospital. I was used to not sleeping with all the time I spent awake and having nightmares in Ireland so it didn't take long for me to get back into the routine of being constantly awake with no real bedtime.

'Look, go to bed. I'll be fine for a few hours or so.'

'You sure?' I asked.

'Yeah, I can pee with one hand, I'm an adult.' Will laughed. 'Look, I'll even tuck you in. you need a rest. Please, Fin.' Will whispered.

'Okay, fine, but if you need me, please call me.' I said and Will pinkie promised me before he followed me up the stairs. He kissed me softly, brushing my hair before I got into bed. His arm still had a bandage but he was using his arm more and more now. He gently tucked me up into our shared bed before kissing me gently.

'Now you, beautiful, sleep.' Will said and I nodded. 'I'll be downstairs. I'll call if I need anything – which I won't.'

'You sure?'

'You ask if I'm sure one more time, I'll go and get stabbed again.' Will joked before he left the bedroom. I just about heard him hit the bottom stair before I fell asleep, finally knowing Will was safe.

I woke up and I knew I had slept for god knows how long – a good few hours. I immediately got up and ran downstairs and into the living room, almost expecting Will to not be okay. But sure enough, I turned around the corner and saw Will sitting on the settee, on his laptop, happily typing away. Dog was sitting beside him and on the table was some coffee cups and a plate too. He looked up at me and grinned at me.

'Told you I would be fine.' Will laughed.

'How long have I been asleep?' I asked as I sat down next to him as Will closed the laptop lid and hugged me to his side.

'God, I don't know – seven hours or so? I've finished your case write-ups for you.' Will explained.

'Sorry. Have you taken your meds?' I asked and he nodded.

'Yep.' Will said as he opened the laptop up. I watched the screen as Will very quickly closed down a tab on his laptop – but I saw it before he closed it down. I saw the name of the website – and it was a local jewellery store. I looked at Will but he didn't look at me but he bit his lip – something he only ever did when extremely nervous.

/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\

Christmas came and passed perfectly; Will's arm (with the help of Xav) healed perfectly and he had been given the clearance to drive and work again – and only worked a half day before the office broke up for the Christmas period, only put on call for major case developments. So Will and I spent Christmas Eve at his parent's house with everyone in tow – including several excited children and all of his brothers and their partners too, as well as one or two cousins. We watched a Christmas movie with hot chocolate and sweets. We went home late that night, went to bed and woke up at random times of the night to put each other's presents under the tree. The morning of, Will woke me up with a gentle kiss and we opened each other's gifts before Will started cooking Christmas dinner.

The whole experience was new to me and I followed Will around like a lost puppy, but he didn't mind. I helped him cook the turkey and the vegetables and everything, and we sat down to eat. But I had started to get some doubts and it terrified me – Will was looking at a jewellery shop one night when I was asleep – the night we came back from the hospital. But I got nothing that would have even been purchased from a jewellery shop – and neither did anyone else he bought for. Was he cheating on me? It was an irrational thought, I knew it was, but I was so scared I would lose him it was a genuine fear.

That evening, we sat down and watched classic Christmas films, his arm around me as I fell asleep a few times. I woke up eventually, pretending I had watched the repeat of Home Alone. Will just kissed my forehead.

'So what happens Boxing day?' I asked.

'We go back to Mum and Dad's for a bit, normally go for a walk, more film watching and there is normally some form of extended family.' Will said and I nodded and yawned. 'We do have to be up early, so shall we go to bed?'

'How early are we on about?'

'Half five?'

'Excuse me?!' I shouted and he laughed.

'You'll see, it'll be lovely.' Will said confidently and I sighed loudly.

'Fine, come on then, we better go to bed if we're getting on half five.' I said slightly grudgingly and he laughed as we both got up and went to get ready for bed. I started to regret having three glasses of wine with dinner as I went to bed, sleeping curled into Will's arm.

Sure enough, Will woke me up at half five a shade nervously. It was still dark outside as I applied a tiny bit of concealer and made both of us a cup of coffee before we headed back in the car to Wrickenridge. Just as the sun started to rise, Will pulled up into a carpark on the side of a mountain, a few miles away.

'What are we doing here?' I asked.

'Well, there was no traffic and we're a bit early.' Will said.

'A bit? We're two hours early!' I laughed and he grinned at me. 'So we're going to go for a pre-boxing day walk walk, yeah?'

'Yep. Ass out the car now, Finley.' Will said and I did what he said.

In all fairness, this spot was absolutely beautiful. We walked through long fields as the sun started to rise and we ended up walking through some forests on the edge of the hill, Will gently holding my hand the entire time. I didn't wear the correct shoes for this though – I had decided to wear my converse shoes and left my walking boots in the bag in Will's boot. The sun had just started to hit the side of the mountain a few miles away.

'See that little platform up there?' Will said, gesturing to a small section of the woods to my right-hand side. I could see a small wooded area and a fence around. 'Go look.'

I nervously did, walking up and jumping up on the platform and the view took my breath away. From here, I could see everything. I could see our car, parked alone, just a tiny prick in the distance with some cows in the field grazing below. We must have climbed up the steep side of the hill as the podium looked across the entire area. In the distance, there were two mountains and I knew they were the town where Will grew up.

'It looks beautiful.' I said, looking at the view for ages as the sun made beautiful patterns on the hills.

'Fin?' Will said ever so gently.

'Yeah?' I mumbled.

'Turn around.' He said and I frowned, turning around.

Will was on one knee on the forest floor. My hand immediately covered my mouth as he laughed. I stepped down and Will just grinned at me.

'What are you doing?' I whispered to him and he just looked down.

'Thought it was fairly obvious.' Will said and I just looked at him. 'Fin, you have changed my life. You are the best person in the World, I swear – you are absolutely beautiful, kind, smart, and just amazing. The last ten months we've been together have been the absolute time of my life and over the last month or so, since then – you know – you've shown me how truly perfect you are. I cannot thank you enough. I want to spend the rest of our lives together, working together, having kids and watching them grow old, watch them find love as we did. I know this has come out of nowhere, but Finley Loughlin, will you marry me?'

I just stood there, staring at him, shaking, my hands covering half of my face. Will just looked at me so nervously.

'The floor is really wet, please answer.' He said.

'Yeah, yeah – of course, yes.' I said, crying and Will just grinned, standing up and coming the three foot or so over to me to place the ring on my shaking hands – it wasn't easy as he was also shaking too. He touched my face before kissing me passionately.

'We're going to get married.' He whispered and I laughed, still shaking and crying. 'I really hope that they are good tears.'

'Yeah, I just, it's just…' I said as he wiped tears away but I noticed he has also teared up. 'Really? Me?' I asked.

'Oh yeah, you.' Will said before kissing me again. He held my hands to try and get me to stop shaking, before giving me his coat as he kissed my cheek. 'Always you.'

'You've got damp jeans now.' I laughed as he hugged me.

'It was worth it.' Will said, pulling me back up to the platform. I looked at the ring – and it was beautiful, a diamond in the middle and two either side on a silver band. It was my size perfectly. Will hugged me as we looked out over the mountains.

'Did anyone know?' I asked him and he shook his head.

'Nope – no one.'

'So we have to tell everyone later.'

'Yeah, sorry.' He kissed my forehead and I just grinned.

'Will, I love you so much. Thank you.' I whispered and he just kissed me. But I was extremely thankful. I thought I was perfect in Ireland, bumbling along doing nothing, but it wasn't until I met Will and had that company that I realised I wasn't happy. But with Will, I never felt alone, I never felt sad anymore because I had someone. I had my Will, someone I could rely on at all times. And I could never, _never_ , thank Will enough for being there for me when I wasn't really there for myself.

Quick sidenote: I have written the first three chapters of the fanfiction that still has Fin and Will but from Sky and Zed's perspective - I will upload if I ever decide what I want to call it!


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

 **Will's POV**

It has been five months since I asked Finley to marry me, and the wedding planning was zero-to-none. It wasn't because she didn't care and she didn't want to get married – I knew she did – but she wasn't that type of girl. She wasn't the type of girl to dream about a wedding when she was a small kid and she definitely wasn't the type of woman who dreamed of a big white wedding. Whenever I asked her anything wedding related, she kind of just shrugged it off. We hadn't even managed a date yet.

Fin and I had come home from work today at the same time – despite Fin starting at half five in the morning, whilst I started at nine. Fin had quite a few open cases at the moment and was running severely behind on her paperwork, having her refused to get one of the interns to do her work for her. We picked up dinner on the way home from a fast food outlet, had a quick dinner before we put on the current boxset we were watching on TV. About fifteen minutes in, Fin was curled up with a blanket over her shoulders, my arm around her shoulders. I gently kissed the crown of the head as she curled into me a bit more.

There was a rap at the front door – a sharp, few taps – and I stopped and frowned before I checked Fin in my arm. She was sound asleep still. I gently edged away, putting a pillow under her head as I laid her down gently, pulling the blanket over her. I quickly got up as there was another series of raps at the door.

Promptly, I unlocked and opened the front door and I saw Vick standing there. I could have slammed the door in his face if I wasn't so startled to see him there. He was still in a suit, hair tied up, and I knew he had come from work – and it wasn't a drop in. He lived the other side of town. And he has had a massive issue with my Finley. Always has. He rejected her from the Net when she was twenty-one for being too dangerous, even though he didn't have any grounds to do so. And she fought back, we got her back into the net. And she argued with him – something his ego couldn't handle. Since then, he's never really been the same. Vick and I were never close, mutual brothers kind of thing, we called for favours and that was it. But he has barely spoken to me since. Family meals he avoided me, even at work we didn't really speak. We ran different departments, we rarely needed each other's help, so we went to the big meetings, he sat as far away from myself and Fin as possible.

'Is this some kind of cute reunion? You've come to apologise? Perhaps you have some flowers behind your back?' I said as he sighed, entering my house. 'Do let yourself in.'

'Is Finley home?' Vick said. Dog came down the stairs – hearing someone else in the house – and hissed at Vick.

'Oh look, even the cat isn't a fan of you. Of course, she's home, she lives here.' I said as he walked into the kitchen. 'What are you doing here Vick, and how soon is it until you can leave?'

'Right.' Vick said, pulling out a pile of paper and dumped them on the kitchen table. I walked forward, closing the living room door, seeing Finley still sound asleep on the settee. 'These are all the people Finley has wiped. Notice there isn't just one file. There's seventeen, Will. Seventeen. I'm only doing this to protect you.' Vick said and I looked at the stack of blue paper files, stacked high.

'Oh, we've been over this. Finley isn't dangerous.' I said, getting annoyed.

'Harley, aged 7. Five days before Christmas, the care home said Harley had a sudden decrease in skills, verbal, mental, everything. They thought it was a brain tumour, they thought Finley had hit him. He was cleared after, never able to remember the care home. Martin, aged 8. An argument with Finley - lost all ability to speak, remember anything, even lost bladder control. Chloe, eight, couldn't even walk after an encounter with Finley.'

'You dropped your gerbil when you were eight, I don't still think you go around murdering animals.' I sighed. 'Finley. Isn't. Dangerous. End of story.'

'When do you think the last person she wiped was? A few years ago, when she got her life on track? When she became a detective? A few years previous when she became a cop?' Vick said and I just hesitated. I never asked when was the last time she wiped someone – but I could only imagine it to be a while ago.

'Get out, Vick, you're not doing this to be nice, you're doing this to burn my fiancée.'

'Fiancée.' He tutted.

'At this rate, you won't be invited to the wedding.' I sighed. 'Oh good, you have your shoes on. Off you pop.'

'Fine. But the last time she wiped someone was six weeks before you met. In the police station. And it was covered up. Six weeks before you met, Will. This isn't a she was young and foolish. She is still dangerous and at the moment, you're messing with the Devil.' Vick said, grabbing his briefcase and walking out the house, slamming the door.

I hesitated and stopped for a second. Fin wipes someone's mind a few weeks before we met? Only the beginning of last year. I walked over to the table, flicking through the files. Seventeen cases. And Fin was only twenty-four – and given up when she was seven. So in around seventeen years, she had wiped seventeen peoples minds, as well as seven siblings and parents. I sighed.

'What are these?' Fin said and I jumped, immediately pushing the files away as I stood up straight. I didn't even hear her open the door, or walk up beside me.

'Fin…' I said, but before I could finish my sentence she opened one of the files. I closed my eyes and my heart sunk. When I looked back at her, she was frowning as she read a file. And another one. And she opened the third one.

'These are… why have you got these?' Fin asked, and she sounded heartbroken. 'You don't trust me.'

'Vick brought them over, he left a minute ago. I haven't looked at them.' I said.

'But you were going too?' Fin whispered. I just remained silent. I wasn't going to look at them, her past is her past and she's different now. She's nearly had a few near slips but we've managed to stop each one. 'Wow. Okay. Well, okay then.' She said, putting on a pair of shoes and I sighed.

'Fin, I wasn't going to look at them.' I said.

'You were staring directly at them when I came out!' She shouted at me and I just looked at her in shock – Finley has never shouted at me, never even raised her voice.

'The pages were closed, I never opened them. How could I have read them?'

'I don't know, osmosis?' She said and she put on a coat as she headed to the door. My eyes widened as I walked up to her.

'Fin, where are you going?' I asked her.

'Out, just out. Will, you read my past. I've asked you time and time again never too…' Her voice broke as she tried not to cry. I went to touch her arm but she pulled away. 'The one thing I asked for…'

'Fin, I promise you.' I said and she just shook her head before she walked out the door. 'Finley!' I called after her but she just continued to walk off. I watched her as she walked across the front garden, heading right onto the street and into the distance.

Oh my God, what have I done? I didn't read the articles on her, I didn't read the case. I wasn't going too – was I? I got interested, I did want to read them. But I wasn't going too, not without Fin being there.

 _Finley –_ I tied to contact her telepathically but she blocked me out the second I started her name.

I've never argued with Finley, we've bickered over what to have for dinner and who's turn it was to change the litter tray for Dog, but nothing like this. Quickly, I grabbed my coat and my car keys, climbing into the driver's side without locking the front door and started to drive down the street, but Fin must have walked down one of the cut-throughs as she wasn't there anymore.

I continued to drive around for about an hour, even popping into the office to see if she had entered the building – but she hadn't. I had started to get worried, she hasn't texted, she hasn't messaged me, she hasn't been seen anywhere. But she didn't have a lot in this city still, she didn't know the haunts. She would be unable to get to my parent's place and to Sky – her only proper friend in Colorado. The only other place she would go?

I pulled up to the restaurant and the pub I always went too – and started to take Fin there too. On dates, or just or drinks. It was our standard go to. I walked in – it was a Thursday night, a students night, so it was heaving.

But I immediately saw my fiancée in a second. She was sitting at the bar, with a cider in her hand, looking depressed and like she was on the edge of the tears. I bustled over to her, touching her shoulder as she flinched away. She looked up at her – her eyes red and puffy – before she stood up.

'Fin,' I said and she just walked out of the place, into the smokers garden. I followed her before I grabbed her arm. 'Finley, come on. Please.' I almost begged her. She turned around, ready to argue for a second, but just broke down crying. I pulled her in for a hug, my heart breaking at the same time as fixing itself; I was heartbroken she was this upset and I had made her feel this way, but I had found her, and she was okay, she was fine.

'Why?' She cried into my chest.

'I didn't read them, Fin, Vick brought them over to prove you're dangerous. I told him to stick it and kicked him out. I was going to bin them all, but you woke up.' I explained as I hugged her. 'I promise you I know nothing. I know the name of the first kid you wiped, Vick told me trying to get me to listen. I didn't read them, I don't know about your past.' I explained to her, holding her tight, rubbing her arm.

'You promise?' She asked me.

'I promise you Fin. Your past is yours, not mine to find out.' I told her gently. 'Come on, let's get you home. You can take your cider with you.' I laughed as I gently put my arm around her waist, pulling her to the car.

'Sorry, I completely overreacted.' She whispered, sipping her cider before she looked at the bottle, shaking her head and leaving it on the brick wall near the car.

'You thought I betrayed you, you reacted fine.' I told her, kissing her before I opened the passenger side door. Eventually, she got in the car and I closed the door, deep breathing. Deep down, I was scared. I was scared of losing my Finley. She meant everything to me, I was nothing without her.

'Will?' Fin asked me quietly as I got in the car.

'Yeah?'

'I got a call earlier.' She said. 'From my old police captain in Ireland.' She whispered and I looked at her. We were in our office all day, and she got a call and had to take it outside. She was outside on the phone for over an hour.

'Oh?' I said, touching her leg. She gently took my hand.

'He offered me a job. Well… us a job. There's a place in England, in Kent, called the Unit. Savant-only crime division, working on all aspects of crime. They're creating a new investigations unit and want us two to head it. Well, they wanted me and I said I wouldn't do it without you. They agreed for you to take it on with me.'

'We'd have to move to England?' I asked her as I indicated out of the car park. Fin nodded.

'Yeah, but would that be such a bad thing?' She asked. 'I mean they said they'd find us a house, get us two new cars, we can work the hours we want, hire who we want, and best of all – we can live in a country where you can't buy cheese and guns in the same store.' I laughed.

'You don't like it here in America?' I asked her and she sighed.

'No, I do, but this opportunity is amazing. We can take holiday at the same time, unlike the FBI.' She said. 'They're going to email across all the documents and everything tomorrow. We can talk about it tomorrow after dinner.'

/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\

 **Fin's POV**

I pounced up to where Will was sitting at the dining room table with a stack of paperwork in my hand. Will sighed, pulling me onto his lap. He held me tight, but he knew what was coming. I honestly thought the Unit move was an amazingly good one – the pay increase was intense, we had more flexibility within hours and we would hold the entire department, run it how we like it providing we reached lenient targets.

'Right, let's read this then.' Will said, hugging me as I handed him the loose leaf document. Will, as he was reading it, moved his left hand to pick up some jelly beans before pushing them in my mouth as I laughed. A good few minutes passed and I just looked at him.

'So?' I asked as he put the papers away and looked at me.

'So what?'

'So the papers! The Unit!' I said and he kissed me.

'Eh.' He said and I just looked at him. 'I'm joking, it is a good opportunity Fin. It really is.'

'But?' I asked him as he kissed me gently again.

'It's another big move. Back across the pond, but this time we will know no one. No one at all. I won't have family there, you won't have friends there.'

'I didn't have friends and family when I come over here, all I had was you, but I managed to survive. You'd lose your family being two hours away or the giant dickhead being able to drop by with all the files of the kids I wiped in his hand.' I said and Will just looked at me as he kissed me softly. 'And it's not like we've started planning the wedding - if you wanted too that is.' I said all.

'Can I call the guy leading this Unit tomorrow?' He asked and I nodded.

'Number is down the bottom.' I said.

'Perfect let's go to bed. We can discuss this all tomorrow evening once I've called... Philip is it?'

'Just Phil.' I said and he grinned and nodded before picking me up as I squealed slightly, laughing as he carried me bridal style.

'Although, you need to make me a promise.' Will told me gently as he stopped on the stairs with me in his arms like I was no weight at all. Like he was carrying a pile of laundry upstairs and stopped to check his phone. 'If we accept this, if we move to England, you have to promise me we will get married next year, with a ceremony that will have my entire family.' Will said.

'Entire family? Like all your hundreds of cousins?'

'I don't have _hundreds_ of cousins. I have eighty-four.' He corrected me and I just looked at him. 'And twenty-eight-second cousins.'

'That's over a hundred.' I said and he just looked at me. 'It'll be the most uneven wedding ever.'

'Well.' He said and shrugged slightly. 'You can invite whoever you want, you can invite total strangers off the street if you want over.'

'Fine, we move to England, you can have the big wedding you want with all your family. I promise. You might have to force me to walk down the aisle or put a tracker on my ankle to make sure I don't do a runner – can't promise I won't be a flight risk.' I explained and he kissed me.

'Alright, I'll make sure your bridesmaids can outrun you and they can rugby tackle you if you do try and make a runner. Oh, and I promise not to take it personally.' Will said and I nodded and smiled at him.

'Promise then. You can have your big wedding if we move to England.' I said and he grinned as he continued up the stairs, Into the bedroom before he placed me on the bed, kissing me as he pinned me down.

The next day, I was sat in our joint office doing some generic casework, as Will was outside phoning Phil. I had met Phil a few times. Mitch, my old police captain was his cousin, and often Phil would come over for a few weeks at a time to work in the office on some British cases with us. More often than not, Phil would work with me, with him knowing my gift and knowing how it can help with cases, and him just allowing me and trusting me that I won't wipe his mind. I knew he worked in an investigation into Savant crimes but I never knew what he did until Mitch called up a few days ago. Now, everything made more sense.

I was nervous, though. I already had my heart set on moving to the UK. It wasn't that I didn't love America and the FBI, but there was something about it. It was a lot, but it was almost too much at the same time. Will and I couldn't take leave together, we had a maximum of 5 days holiday we could take together. One of us was always working late, and then would come home and go to bed early. We were constantly run down, dealing with staff calling in sick and generically acting like children. That's when we weren't dealing with the ridiculous caseloads.

And the whole America thing is insane; you can buy guns in vending machines and there are weed shops we drive past to head home. I'll never get over trying to shop in a basic supermarket and heading to buy some painkillers and end up looking at more guns than I could ever imagine. Oh, and when you go and buy some matches, the boxes were stored next to the weed. It was a weird country, a truly weird country. And I'm not entirely sure I feel safe here, and not to even mention if we ever have a child. I didn't want my kids going to a school where they learn fire drills, and active shooter drills at the same time. I don't want to have to explain to my son or daughter what to do if someone enters their nursery or kindergarten or whatever they call it in America with a gun.

Will didn't understand that, though. He grew up here, he doesn't understand how ridiculous America is. He doesn't seem to even comprehend how large the portion sizes are. Once, the first time, I ordered a large meal at McDonald's. I was drinking the ridiculously large drink the day after. Everyone was weird too, they all looked at me like I was some kind of alien.

Just as I finished writing up my report on one of my active cases, Will came back into the room. I closed my laptop down, looking at him. He straightened his tie as I stood up, pulling down my skirt as he sat in the seat where I just stood up,

'What happened?' I asked him and he just looked at me.

'You're gonna need to find a wedding dress, we're getting married next year.' He said, grinning.

'Wait, what?' I said, not quite getting what he said.

'I've accepted the job in England. I hope you will do the same or it will be really awkward, and we will have to go to court to see who gets custody of Dog.' Will said and I just looked at him. 'Fin, we're moving to England.' He said and I launched myself and hugged him tightly. He held me tight, kissing my cheek. 'We're meant to start in two months time. They'll find us a house for now.'

'You sure? You're going to have to move away from your family.' I said and he nodded.

'I'll have you, though. I'll take that. New start for both of us, everything we've suggested to make the office better and ignored, we can put them into action.' Will said and I sighed. 'Only thing is? Got something to love. They can't have two people running the department, they only wanted you to be the top dog. Phil oversees the entire Unit, they want you as one of the four secondary managers, and I'll work under you.'

I started laughing. Will let go of me, holding me at arms width. 'What?' He said.

'I'm your boss.' I laughed and he kissed me.

'Yeah, you will be once you accept the job. Two months, me, you and Dog will be in our own house in a small English town with a fish and chip shop nearby, planning our wedding.'

'Last weekend of June, next year.' I said.

'What?' He said.

'We're going to get married last weekend of next June.'

/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\

Hello!

I've decided to carry this on. The other fanfiction I was writing between Sky and Zed wasn't working out. I wasn't a fan of it and I just couldn't seem to write a relationship between them so eventually, I will continue with that once I can. Until then, I will carry on with this one, taking over that storyline. Please review and let me know what you like and what you want to see!

I've started writing the next chapter and it's quite a long one, but I will try and get it up once I can. I've started a new job with ridiculous hours so it might take some time to write and review, but I promise I won't stop writing this! Just let me know what you think and keep me motivated.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

 **One year on**

Will and I had moved to England seamlessly. Dog was placed into quarantine two weeks before we were due to move. Will's house had sold and was due to be exchanged in a few weeks time, and his Dad was going to do all the paperwork and the last minute things. The morning of the move, Will happily packed up his suitcase, locked the door to the house he bought when he was twenty and lived in alone, and placed the suitcase in the boot of the taxi. I've never seen someone so happy to move across the Atlantic. The other side, once we touched down, we sorted out visas out and got in the car with Phil.

The Unit had paid for a lovely four bedroom house in the coastal town of Cliffe in England. The room needed some work doing to it, a lick of paint of replacing some floorboards but we could do it in time. The week after we moved and we settled down, we started working at the unit, which included three weeks of hardcore training and fitness tests before Will and I started the recruitment process. I didn't even need asking twice when Phil came up to me and suggested Alice might be good in this new unit as well.

So, it went like that for seven months, we worked all day and in the evenings, Will started to plan our wedding. We found an absolutely beautiful manor to get married in, and booked it, but we wanted somewhere else oto have the reception. I had agreed to allow Will to invite all of his family, which meant in the evening reception we would have easily over two hundred people and nowhere local to the manor had the capacity for that sheer volume of people. It was only as we were taking the elderly neighbour's dog, Spin, for a walk along the cliffs that we came across a beautiful barn.

'Will, you're looking like you're going to break in, it's just an old barn. This all used to be farmland.' I said as he continued to walk around, grinning. 'What are you doing?'

'Is this the farm lot that's going up for sale?' Will asked.

'I'm not quitting and becoming a farmer, we're not married yet, I haven't vowed to you for better and for worse yet, and believe me Will – this is for worse.' I said, gesturing to the barn and he just looked at me. 'Yes, it's on auction soon.'

'What do we think about this for the reception?' He asked. 'It's big enough, by miles. Think about it, we can get this for next to nothing, we can make it how we want. We can replace all these windows with floor to ceiling windows so we can look out across the ocean. It's big enough we can have a large sit-down meal and a huge dance floor. We can get caterers. Over there can be the carpark,' He gestured down the far end. 'We can lay some decking out here and you can have fairy lights wherever you want. And I mean wherever you want.' Will explained. 'We can sell it on after, or keep it and rent it out to other couples who wanted to get married here.'

'Yeah I mean, we could.' I said and Will grinned. 'I'm not good at this whole renovation thing, though.'

'I am, you know I am good at this stuff. It can be my man project.' Will laughed as he grinned at me, a cute, cheeky grin.

'Alright, poppet. If you win this at the auction, you win this barn, then absolutely. I will help you where I can, I can paint and sand and decorate and organise some stuff. I'll help where I can.' I said and Will grinned and kissed me.

'Deal.'

So Will went to auction when I was at work, and by midday I got a call saying Will was now the legal owner of all of that field, including the barn. So it ended up being us working all day, planning wedding all night and working on a massive barn conversion during the weekend and the odd day off we had. Eventually, though, we had completed it and it looked beautiful.

The main area of the barn had been completed first; down one side was a large bar with shelves behind the bar. The floor had been buffed and stained a deep brown colour, and there was an entire wall of floor to ceiling glass which overlooked the ocean and the cliff. We had changed the smaller sections of the barn – originally small horses pens – into some family rooms with some settees and room for a bouncy castle for the kids who would attend the wedding. And two bathrooms, of course.

One weekend when I was busy handwriting all of the wedding invititations, all one hundred and fifty five of them – just for the day alone – Will was at the barn doing some work. I had no idea what but I just assumed it would be generic and would involve filing walls. But just as I had written out half, including all addresses and had even stamped the envelopes that were destined for UK destinations, Will phoned me.

'Come down the barn.' Will said excitedly.

'It's getting dark, though, Will.' I said.

'Exactly, come down the barn. I'll see you in about twenty. Bring a coat.' He said and I sighed, grabbing a coat as I drove the long way down to the barn. Eventually, as I drove down the long trail to the barn – and I saw it light up. I pulled my car up as Will just smiled. I got out the car, looking at the barn.

Somehow, as I sat there writing and licking envelopes, Will had built an absolutely beautiful walkway from the makeshift car park. The walkway was about five foot way, with a wooden arch over the top, covered in fairy lights and lit lanterns dangling down. Either side of the walkway was two ponds with small water features. Will just grinned at me as my mouth dropped.

'You like it?'

'Oh my God, it's beautiful.' I whispered as Will kissed me. 'Will, this is amazing.'

'Told you I can do DIY.'

'It's beautiful.' I said as I started crying.

'I knew you were looking at stuff like this, and I know you mentioned its something you love. You wanted the sparklers at night at the wedding. So, yeah, I tried.'

'Thank you, Will.' I sobbed as Will hugged me.

Two weeks after, the Unit started another recruitment drive as our segment was becoming overworked. Not even a day after recruitment started, Will got a phone call from his youngest brother, Zed, saying both him and his girlfriend Sky had completed their college education to the highest level. It didn't take long after that Will turned around and asked them if they would want to work in our unit, moving to England. And they near enough agreed to it straight away. So three months later after all of the checks had been cleared, Will and I decided to take a three and a half week trip to Colorado.

The first week we would spend in the old office, tying up our last cases and signing off on the work we had done – standard protocol. The two weeks and a bit weeks after we would spend just chilling, having some fun. So we packed up our suitcases, boarded the plane, and headed back to Will's childhood home. I was getting better around Will's family – I was talking to most of them and quite a lot of them went out their way to message me. I still didn't get on well with Vick who contined to ignore me and walk out the room as I walk in, despite Will telling him he's acting like a four year old.

Karla and Saul had started to treat me like their daughter, but the house rules were ridiculous. Will and I, fully grown adults, had to be in bed by ten each night with the lights out. Not easy when you're jetlagged either.

So Will and I laid in his small double bed. It was just past ten in the evening and we had just heard Karla go to bed. Will rolled over and turned the lamp on.

'Oh, rebel.' I laughed and he just shook his head, rolling over as he ran his fingers up and down my side.

'Ten is too early. We're on vacation.'

'I dunno, ten seems like a good time.' I said back and Will just looked at me, before he ran his fingers down my face before he kissed me. I deepened the kiss, holding his arm before Will started kissing down my neck, gently taking off my t-shirt.

'Will.' I groaned.

'Yep.'

'Your Mum...' I said and he sighed.

'Right, we're never mentioning my mom again when we are tryna... you know.' He said. 'We don't go to bed until midnight easily, even when we're tired. We're just wasting time. Now, shall we pick up where we left off.' Will asked and I nodded, kissing him hard as I wrapped my legs around his waist as continue to kiss down my neck and onto my chest.

The day of our flight home came around and I didn't feel alright. I had an impending sense of doom over me and I couldn't sleep or even get comfortable in bed. I was tossing and turning all night, not sleeping a single bit. Eventually, around two in the morning, Will gave up trying to sleep and sat up with me downstairs in the Benedict's kitchen, letting me lean against him. Eventually, we started to work some cases to pass the time. We had arranged our flights home to be at the same time as Zed and Sky's flights over to England, so we could take them to their new house.

'Finley?' Will asked me softly.

'Yeah?'

'I love you.' He said.

'I love you too.' I replied back as I found his hand.

'It's just under a month until we get married.' Will said. 'And only now, just now, Sky had bullied you into getting a wedding dress. Can you make me one promise?'

'What?'

'That you will take our wedding seriously from now on in.' Will said and I just looked at him, slightly horrified. 'Not like that, Fin. We've put in so much work and I know you're not that kind of girl. I know that. But it's a month to go and you still haven't got _a dress_. You need to promise me that you will go with Sky to get a wedding dress, and you'll put it on on our wedding day and you'll walk down that aisle one way or another. Even if I have to walk you down the aisle myself.'

'That seems to break tradition.'

'I don't care, I've forced you into this big wedding thing and you were brilliant enough to humour me and go along with it. I don't care if I break tradition, if you get scared and if you want me by your side, I will be there.' Will told me softly.

'I'll go this weekend and find a dress. How hard can it be?' I said and Will smiled at me and kissed me.

'Yeah exactly, I found a suit in about two hours.' Will mumbled and I grinned.

'What kind of suit?'

'Eh, we're not doing that. You don't get to know that.'

Later that day, Will and I boarded the plane with Sky and Zed, heading over to England, us ending our vacation and them beginning their new life in the UK. I fell asleep on the plane in seconds, as Will hugged me to his side. I woke up as we were midway over the ocean.

'Good morning.' Will said as I stretched out.

'Morning.' I mumbled. 'Did I fall asleep?'

'Five hours, you must have been exhausted. You feeling alright, Fin?' Will asked. I nodded but I still didn't feel alright. Somehow Will knew but I didn't feel alright; I still felt a bit weird, my stomach didn't feel right and my head was hurting and I had the shivers. And something still didn't seem right.

'Yeah, just a bit meh. It'll be the flying again.' I said and Will simply nodded but still seemed unsatisfied. 'You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to go wedding dress hunting on my phone and I won't show you any of them.' I said as he just shook his head at me.

'That's teasing, that's not fair.' Will laughed.

But I sat there, my legs on his lap as he traces patterns on my jeans as I checked the local wedding dress shops for stock. Eventually, I found a dress I loved. I knew it was the dress. It was tight across the chest with a sweetheart neckline with a floral netting over the shoulders. It gathered at the waist and fell down to the floor, flowing, with a train at the back. I knew it was the dress and I also saw it was fully in stock, and made a mental note to call the dress shop to put them on hold the second I touched down.

That evening, we drove Sky and Zed to their new house before Will and I headed home too, picking up Dog from the cattery. But that night I laid in bed, feeling rough again. I barely slept, my head pounding. The next day I went to work and just sat in the office, staring at the wall. Will, bless him, sensed something was wrong with me but assumed it was jetlag and did all of my tasks for me. He followed up all of my cases, cleared my work, attended my meeting for me. I ended up just staring at the wedding dress. Something didn't seem right anymore. I love Will, I love him to pieces. But something didn't seem right about the wedding. But I could only guess it was because I was more than happy to get married in a pair of jeans in the local registry office with those weird people who volunteer to be witnesses.

Will took me home, gently feeding me before Sky and Zed came over, staying over tonight so we could take them in tomorrow for their inductions. Thankfully, we went to bed early. I laid in bed that night, my stomach constantly twitching and turning. I knew everyone else in the house was asleep – there was a lovely silence to the house. Will was breathing heavily like he normally does when he's fast asleep, his arm under my head. But I was still wide awake. I felt rough, in a way I had only felt rough once before. And that was when I was pregnant a year ago, and then I lost it and devastated Will and broke him. He was heartbroken. We agreed not to have children or even mention having children for the next few years, but now, deep down, something wasn't quite right.

Nervously, I got out of bed, careful not to wake Will. I crept across the landing into the bathroom, locking the door behind me. Quietly, I opened the vanity cabinet, moving some storage boxes across to pull out a make up bag. Inside, I hid some pregnancy tests. Slowly, I unwrapped one and committed to taking the test.

The wait was agonising – I was washing my hands meticulously as my stomach continued to do flips and somersaults. I then washed my face, getting on a pair of new pyjama bottoms. I stood there, looking at myself in the mirror. I looked horrendously pale, my hair messy. It was somewhat of a miracle I was getting married next month when I looked like this half of the time. Slowly, I took some deep breaths before picking up the pregnancy test. I ran my hand over the test, feeling the dip in the back before I flipped it over. And I saw, in very clear writing, that I was two to three weeks pregnant.

Suddenly, the bathroom seemed too small. I had to get out of here quickly. I tucked the test into the waistband of my pyjamas as I opened the door and run downstairs, launching myself onto the settee as I started to panic.

Will and I weren't trying for a baby, and I was on the pill. How did this happen? I tried to think about what was happening two to three weeks ago. We had taken a month long trip to Colorado, to finish some cases and sign paperwork and then two weeks holiday with Will's parents, doing sweet nothing in the mountains. Karla, Will's mum, had very careful words with me about sharing a room with Will and how nothing should happen until we were married. I very passively agreed, not wanting to argue. I also was never going to mention what had happened before. Not in a million years. So I agree'd that we would be perfectly behaved and go to bed at ridiculous o'clock. But of course, we didn't listen. We went to bed at the same time as agreed, but we found ways to pass the time until it was late enough to fall asleep. I guess that either the pill failed, or I didn't accurately work out times to take the pill and there was a tiny window where the impossible happened.

I heard footsteps coming downstairs and quickly hid the pregnancy test. Just as I moved my hand, Sky came around the corner.

'Why are you awake? Did I wake you up?' I asked the second I saw her and she forwned before shaking her head.

'I was already up – why are you up?' She said to me and I swallowed nervously, tearing up as I sighed. I had to tell her. She was one of my closest friends and I had to tell someone, to work out what to do or how to tell Will that I was expecting his child, his baby, when he didn't want children.

'Can I tell you something?' I said and Sky just nodded. 'It will make sense after, but I just – I just need someone to tell me I'm not being horrendously irrational.' I said and Sky just nodded again. So I told her, I spilled my guts to her.

I told her about the miscarriage. How Will and I went out on a date that night, we had glasses of wine with dinner and I fell ill that night. I threw up and we blamed food poisoning – I had the chicken and he had the beef so it would explain why I was ill and he wasn't. The next day, I felt rough but nothing awful. And the night after, I threw up again. And the night after. And on the fourth night, I had a sinking feeling that something wasn't right. Will woke up when he heard me being ill and asked me if there was any chance I was pregnant. Of course, I denied it. He asked me if I wouldn't mind just taking the test, just to see if I was so we can rule it out and then he could take me to the doctors. The next morning, Will bought home a pregnancy test whilst I was still asleep – and he presented it to me with a box of mini muffins and a glass of orange juice. So I did the test, thinking nothing of it. I handed the test to him as It was still... cooking if you will... as I continued to eat my muffins.

I just remember the look on Will's face, the overall happiness, like he had a purpose. He was so happy as he handed me the test which said "positive" on the front. He hugged me and kissed me and told me he would support me anyway we decided to go. I asked him to give me some time to understand it all, and he agreed. But I could tell he was already stepping up to the role. When he hugged me as we fell asleep, his hand was over my lower abdomen. He handed me his phone, once, and he left open a tab – he was reading about baby development. It was fine for two weeks, but one day I felt awful and sluggish. Will was joking around as he pulled off the duvet. And from my waist down, I was covered in blood. Sure enough, Will like an absolute saint he is, calmed me down and took me the doctors where they confirmed I had a miscarriage. I went downhill fast after that; I couldn't get out of bed, I couldn't eat, couldn't keep food or water down.

Will was perfect though. He couldn't take the time off work to spend with me as the stupid management rules forbade us going on holiday together, but he came home twice a day to wake me up, to give me food and water, to sit with me as I cried – I didn't even know why I was crying. In the evening, he helped me wash my hair and get changed. A week passed, and he started to bring home my favourite fast food and hand-fed me chips and then fried chicken and tacos. Eventually, the bleeding stopped, I was able to eat more and keep drinks down and was able to go outside. But I could see the hurt on his face, the pain he was going through. I couldn't do that to him, not again. So when we had the kid talk, I told him I didn't want kids, not yet. Not for a few years. I said we weren't prepared, and we should wait until after we were married - a good year or so after – but it was all to stop Will getting hurt by me again.

As I told Sky, I was crying. She hugged me. She asked me why I didn't tell anyone about the miscarriage and I told her I couldn't.

'Is that what is upsetting you?' She asked me as she hugged me.

'No.' I sighed before I dug out the test from the arm of the settee and handed it to her. I watched as Sky read the test as I curled up, sobbing harder.

'Fin, no, don't cry.' She said.

'Will didn't want kids, this could be the last time. I could lose it, and it'll be like last time. I can't do that all again. I can't expect Will to go through that with me again. He'll hate me if – when – he finds out. I don't want him to hate me.' I started sobbing, curled up. I heard footsteps and Sky say something, and I heard Will reply. I started sobbing, even more, edging on hysteria as I felt firm arms haul me up and onto someone's lap and I knew it was Will. He hugged me tightly, his hand in my hair.

'Fin, come on sweetheart. You need to calm down.' He whispered to me and I shook my head. Will didn't understand, he didn't get it. 'Start breathing with me, alright? We can work it out, we can work out whatever it is. I'm not going to leave you, we can work it out.'

'Will, no, you don't understand, you'll hate me.' I sobbed and Will laughed gently.

'My sweet Finley, I'll never hate you.' He said. 'Every day, I love you more, I won't ever hate you.' He said and I sighed, still crying, but I leant back and grabbed the test from the creases in the settee and handed it to him as I bawled.

'Wait, Fin, is this... is this legit? You're pregnant?' He whispered to me and I nodded as I cried. 'Fin, why are you crying?'

'You said you don't want a baby, I'll hurt you again.' I said and Will laughed, picking me up and spinning me around. I laughed slightly, calming down.

'Fin, this is brilliant!' He shouted and I just looked at him. 'I said I didn't want a baby because that's what you said, and I didn't want to put pressure on you. You won't hurt me again, we can do everything correctly, and if something bad happens we will work from there but it won't come to that.' Will said. 'Fin, we're going to have a baby.' He said, hugging me tight.

'We're not even married yet.' I said and he smiled at me. I notice his eyes were welling up.

'This time next month, we will be married.' Will said.

'I'm scared, Will. I'm so scared. What are we going to do?' I asked and he grinned. I noticed a tear running down his cheek. I quickly wiped it away. 'Wait, are you crying?' I said and he just smiled at me.

'Yeah.' He told me honestly and I just grinned, laughing. He grinned back, laughing. 'Look, we can work all of this out. You won't be showing before the wedding if you're only three weeks gone. You won't need to worry about getting a new dress. We won't drink at the wedding to make it fair. I'll take over all your big cases so you won't get stressed until the baby is born. I can take paternity if you wanted to work and I don't mind staying home with the baby, looking after him or her. I don't mind giving up my job to look after the baby. We can go shopping. Whatever you want to do, we can work it out. But please, please don't get rid of the baby.'

'I can't help it if I miscarry again, Will, that isn't how this works.' I said and he shook his head.

'No, I meant abort it, you doughnut.'

'Of course I'm not going to abort it.' I said and he grinned, kissing me.

'We're going to be parents, we're going to have a little baby.' Will said hugging me.

'Yeah, we're going to have a baby.' I said and Will just hugged me tight.

'I bet it's a girl.' He told me as I wiped away one of his tears.

'You're crying.' I whispered grinning as I shook my head and he just nodded, smiling too. 'But, I'm gunna say it's a boy.'

Will held me tight, hugging me on his lap as he ran his hand through my hair, calming me down. Eventually, Will scooped me up and took me back upstairs, laying me down in bed as he climbed over me, rolling himelf into bed. But neither of us fell asleep. We quietly kept talking about the baby for a while, talking about what names we liked and where the baby was going to sleep and which spare room would be the nursery and how we would go around childcare arrangements. Eventually, our alarms went off and we got out of bed, getting changed and ready to take Sky and Zed to work.

Just over four weeks after, Will and I were due to have an early scan. It has gone just over seven weeks and there had be no signs. There was no sign of a bump, no movements, no sickness, no symptoms whatsoever. But every day or so, I would still take a pregnancy test and each time it told me it was positive. There also wasn't ridiculously heavy bleeding or anything to indicate there was something wrong.

Will and I sat in the hospital, myself on the bed and him on the chair, holding my hand. The midwife came in and asked me some routine questions before asking me to lift my t-shirt up. She placed the gel on my stomach and tried to find the baby. But I was too scared – I kept looking at Will. I saw Will's face, the nerves, before I saw a smile across his face. He lit up. I turned around very quickly and looked at the imagine on the ultrasound and saw... something.

Wouldn't say what I saw was a baby. I saw a kidney-shaped oval that was pitch black, breaking up the wavy lines. Inside the black, was a smaller blob, another oval of white wiggly lines. I just looked at the weird shapes but I couldn't see a baby. I always saw movies of old friends and collegues who go for their scans and their baby a _ctually looked like a baby._ And my baby didn't. My baby was a blob. A black and white jelly bean that has been left out in the sun and was melting. But Will looked so excited, so happy. The midwife pointed out on top of the melted jelly bean as being the babies head, and the other end is the bottom. Even that evening when we had print outs of the scan, Will kept looking at it, happy as anything, kept saying that that was our baby. I tried really hard not to upset him and point out to him that it wasn't our baby I was cooking, but a weird small bean.

/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\

 **The day after the wedding**

I leant back in the chair on the aeroplane, as Will held my hand. We were heading away for two weeks for our honeymoon having got married yesterday, but Will appears to already be taking the piss. He grinned at me as he kissed me, but he was wearing the most offensive t-shirt I had ever seen; a bright blue button up shirt with green palm leaves and toucans on.

'How soon can I get a divorce?' I asked him and he looked offended.

'What have I done?' He asked.

'That t-shirt.' I said and he just grinned at me.

'Oh, I have an entire wardrobe of t-shirts for honeymoon.'

'Oh god.' I said.

'Well, it's a lot harder for you to leave me so I am making the most out of it.' Will said as he put his arm around my shoulders.

'I will get an annulment if you wear t-shirts like these when we're back home.' I told him. 'You're going to be a Dad soon, you can embarrass your child - not me.' I said and Will just looked at me. Before he could say anything, an airhostess came over to us.

'Good afternoon, I hear you two are heading away on your honeymoon?' She said, but was looking directly at Will.

'Yeah, we got married yesterday.' Will told the air hostess and she smiled and batted her eyelids at her. I frowned at her – did she hear the park where Will mentioned he got married only yesterday?

'Well, heres some bubbly for you two.' She said, pouring two glasses of prosecco before handing them to me.

'Er, thank you.' I said as I put my glass down on the table.

'You're not going to drink that ma'am?' She asked.

'I'm pregnant.' I simply said and Will just smiled at me, kissing my temple.

'Oh.' Was all the air hostess said as she picked up my glass, taking a sip of the bubbly as she winked at Will as she walked off. I just looked at Will in shock as he laughed.

'It's the t-shirt, isn't it? It attracts weirdos.' He said to me.

'What the Hell just happened?'

' _Someone_ appreciated the t-shirt.' He said. 'Look, next year I'm gunna be a dad so we need to polish me up on how embarrasing I can be.'

'Can you not just be one of those cool Dad's who everyone loves, who isn't embarrasing?' I asked and he thought about it for a second.

'No.' He simply said and I laughed, leaning against him as he hugged me to his side. 'I want to be embarrassing. I need to put these shirts to good use.'

/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\

We came back from our honeymoon four days early. The morning sickness has started to kick in and all I could do for twelve hours a day was sit by the toilet, throwing up everything I had eaten and drank. The other twelve hours a day, I was too weak to get up, to go and see the sights of the Mediterranean. Will made the call for us to call off the honeymoon, to head home to comfort food and our own bed, and promised to book us another shorter minimoon when I was further along in the pregnancy. Even though I felt horrible, I agreed as Will moved our flights forward.

'I'm going to take you to the base, so we can get you on a banana bag so at least you can stand up for more than ten minutes.' Will told me. I didn't have the energy to argue. We had just headed off the plane and was walking very slowly to our car we had left in the long-stay carpark. The banana bags are often what are used to treat hangovers, as it has all the vitamins and other stuff to stop the hangover reaction, so it should be fine to use to treat me, to get me back up to a normal level of human functioning.

'I feel awful, I've made you feel like this.'

'You didn't make me feel like this. The awful Satan you've put in me – that's what's making me feel like this.' I said and Will laughed.

'That's our awful Satan, Finley. It was a joint effort.' Will said and I just nodded.

'Some people call their baby their tadpol, their nugget, their beanie. Ours? Awful Satan.' I said and Will laughed.

'Well, it's us two – what can we expect?' Will said as we left the airport, both of our suitcases being dragged along by Will, somehow. 'So you're going to fall asleep in the car as I drove to the base, and I'll wake you up and you will only stay awake long enough to be administered into the hospital and long enough for me to dart-gun you with the banana bag.'

'No, we can't be in the hospital. People will find out and be annoying. It'll be logged and you know full well our entire team won't stop talking about the baby for God knows how long. And they don't even know we're together, let alone married.' I said and Will sighed.

'I'll get on of the interrogation rooms cleared, move a bed in. It'll be off the books. How long does the bag take?'

'Four hours, but I might need two.' I said.

'Eight hours, perfect. It'll be night shift by the time we get there anyway, so we will be out of there by morning and before anyone can see us.' Will said as we walked up the stairs to the car. 'Finley, I'm sorry for putting you through this much pain.'

'Will, we both wanted this baby. It's an occupational hazard for being pregnant. It'll be worth it in the end – or, at least, that's what everyone says. They could be lying, we will find out in... seven months.' I said.

'It'll be worth it.' Will said and he grinned at me. 'Our baby.'

'Well, you can do all the feeding and the smelly nappies.'

'Diapers.' He corrected me and I just looked at him.

'No. You're British now. Nappies.' I said as we walked to our car. Will opened the passenger door for me as I climbed in. I barely managed to stay awake long enough to see Will turn the car on.

'Finley, wake up now beautiful.' Will said ever so softly and I jumped up in the passenger seat. Will gently put his hand across my waist to calm me down. 'Sorry, you were sound asleep. We're on the base, parked in the delivery bay.' Will said as he unbuckled my belt, helping me swizzle over and jump down. He caught me, pulling me to his side. Will gently kissed my forehead as he helped me into the building. I had never felt so run down ever; I guess not eating for over a week does that, and the morning sickness was only getting worse and worse. I couldn't even drink now – any water I drank made a reappearance in the toilet an hour later. And being in a very, _very_ warm country as I did that - it was little to no wonder that I felt like I was dying.

'Bet you didn't want your honeymoon to go like this.' I said and he laughed.

'Well, no, but we originally agreed to try for kids on our honeymoon, so if anything we've done better than what I wanted our honeymoon to be like.' Will said as he helped me into the lift.

'You're so child orientated, you're going to be a fantastic Dad.' I said and he just kissed my forehead.

'And you'll be a brilliant mother.' He said softly as we came out of the delivery elevator. 'Good evening Suki.' Will said poliely to the receptionist.

'Oh, Mr Benedict, you aren't meant to be back for another six days, what can I do for you?' Suki asked.

'Can you book out the accessibility-friendly interrogation room for the next ten hours please? And block out the access cards for the room as well?' Will asked as Suki nodded, rapidly typing before she handed him one of the cards.

'It's been booked out until half ten tomorrow morning, and these are the only key cards that will work on that area unless Phil overrides it, but I doubt it.' Suki said and I smiled shyly. Will said thank you to the receptionist again as he started to help me walk over to the lift again - pressing the button for the fifth floor. Eventually, it pinged open and Will started to guide me down the ominously empty corridors, down the three smaller empty interrogation rooms. Eventually, Will opened the room.

We froze as we all walked in.

In front of us, Phil stood with a folder in his hand. Sky, Zed and Alice all stood around talking, looking at us. And in the interrogation room, there was a man. I'd say early thirties, light blonde curly hair and freckles all over his face.

'You two are meant to be on an island somewhere.' Phil said as Will explained quietly behind me why we were back, but I continued to stare at the man. He looked familiar, but in a bad way. I recognised him, but I couldn't work out why. Sky, Zed and Alice all looked horrendously shifty, moving around and trying to cover files. But I just continued to look at the guy. Zed came up to me, gently trying to take me out of the room. I just couldn't tear my eyes away from him, he looked so familiar.

And it hit me; it was in his bright blue eyes. The last time I saw those eyes were years ago as I was being dropped off at the front doors of an orphanage. Those eyes belonged to my older brother Daniel.

I panicked – why was he here? Why was my brother here? The brother I haven't seen since I was seven years old. The brother that gave me up, the brother that never came back.

'Will.' I said softly as the room fell silent. Will came up to me, holding my back.

'Yeah?'

'You know you said if you ever met my brother that dropped me off at the orphanage, you'd kill him?' I said and I saw Phil and Alice exchange a look and I knew in that second that I was correct and the man in front of me was the brother that gave me up and left me for dead.

'Yeah?' Will said softly.

'There he is. That's the brother that gave me up and dumped me at an orphanage.' I whispered, my voice strained.

'Why is he here?' Will asked quite aggressively to Phil.

'He came in to speak to you or Fin to try and find his missing sister. He didn't leave you for dead, Fin, he tried to come and pick you up a few months later but you had gone. They had moved you on to another home, and they left no trace. He's never stopped looking for you, Fin.' Phil explained.

'No, no I'm not having this.' I said as Will started arguing too. I turned around to walk out but turned too fast, my head suddenly going faint. Oh yeah – I forgot. We came into get me on some banana bags so I could stand up. I remembered this fact, and so did Will, the second I passed out and fell on the floor, my head smacking the concrete as the world faded to blackness.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

 **Will's POV**

Fin turned around to walk out the room, furious and upset that her brother appeared in the room before her. Phil, the manager, Zed, Sky and Alice were all in the room and all of them looked equally as guilty. Fin's brother, the one that gave her up when she was a kid, the brother who remembered Finley when she wiped everyone else's mind, was sitting in the interrogation room in front of us. And everyone else knew. And they had kept it off the books completely. But the second Fin turned around, I knew she was going to collapse. I immediately moved out to try and catch her as she blacked out, but I couldn't get there in time and she hit her head on the hard concrete floor.

'Finley.' I said as I knelt down beside her, running my hand through her hair before I scooped her up. Sky came straight over, helping me. 'Right, you're getting him out of here, out of this building and you're telling him to never come back.' I told Phil and he sighed.

'He's not the bad guy here, he's trying to help Fin.' Phil said as he came over to check her pulse. I moved her away from him and he frowned at me.

'Sure, did you miss the part where that guy gave up his seven-year-old sister, and she had to suffer years and years of abuse and fear because of it? Or did you miss the part where she still suffers to this day because of what he did?' I said. 'Get him out of his building. Send him on a plane to Ireland, tell him to give up. I'm not going to help him, and Fin sure as Hell is not going to help him.' I said as I stormed out, holding Fin in my arms.

'Fin, sweetheart?' I whispered as I carried her, heading down the corridors, the ones I knew lead to the hospital on base. It was about a four-minute walk before I entered the small ward – the ward that covered everything and all injures someone could sustain on base. Two nurses immediately came up to me.

'What happened to her?'

'She's pregnant, been throwing up for days, not been keeping down for any food. Fin was meant to come and hook herself up to a banana bag but she went somewhere else and collapsed, hitting her head on the floor.' I explained as the nurses showed me to a private room down the bottom of the corridor. They started to check her out, examining the cut on the back of her head and hooking her straight up to a banana bag.

'How far along is she?'

'Nine weeks.' I said and they nodded.

'You're married now, so you're the next of kin and you'll have to make the decisions for her whilst she's unconscious. We need to do an ultrasound to make sure the baby is fine, and a CT to make sure Fin is okay and doesn't have any brain injuries as a result of her fall. She was correct about the banana bag and we will also put her on fluids to try and get her back up to function.' The chief nurse explained and I nodded.

'Yeah, that's all fine.'

'We'll get the CT done first, then the ultrasound. Stay here, Mr Benedict. We're very quiet tonight so she will be back soon.' The nurse said and I nodded. Very quickly, they wheeled Finley out of the room, down to the CT. And I was left just to sit on the chair in the room, thinking.

We were meant to be on our honeymoon. It wasn't Finley's fault we had to come home early. If anything, I was very happy about the circumstances. I was convinced, after the last incident, Finley wouldn't ever want another child and we would have some very awkward conversations about wanting to have a baby. But instead, she fell pregnant accidentally and so far, the baby seems to be viable. We only that three weeks left until the chances of miscarriage drop dramatically and I knew then, Finley would rest a lot easier. And so would I – it was always in the back of my mind that at any point, she could lose it like she did last time. Once again, not her fault, but I knew if she lost this baby she wouldn't be able to cope. She barely coped last time. So, I just had to sit and hope that nothing would happen. But Finley's reactions to her pregnancy was alarming – she passed out. That wasn't normal.

Phil came into the room and I didn't even look at him.

'I wasn't kidding, I don't want him in this hospital.' I said and Phil sighed.

'Listen to his case first.'

'Nope, don't want too. He gave up a seven-year-old child to an orphanage.' I simply said. 'And that seven-year-old child he gave up is in for a CT, and I'm married to her. So I'm not taking this lightly.' I simply said.

'I didn't know Fin was pregnant.' Phil said but I didn't reply or even respond. 'Will, he's never stopped looking for Finley. He was just a kid too, he was fourteen. He just took Finley down to the orphanage for her to have somewhere safe to stay away from his parents whilst he talked everyone around. But his family wasn't having it, but he went to pick up Finley. They moved Finley on, and her paperwork got lost in the system. He has been looking for her ever since but the orphanage changed her name and lost her paperwork so he was useless. He filed police reports for a missing child. He came over here because he heard about your unit you ran with Finley, and how you two are the best of the best. Daniel has given up everything to come and find you and Fin to help find his missing sister. He has no idea.' Phil explained and I shook my head.

'Finley was left for dead.'

'Perhaps that's for her to decide.'

'Did you miss the part where she's completely unconscious?' I asked him. 'She has to have a CT scan to make sure she's not dying or hasn't got a brain bleed. So yeah, it is my decision whilst she's unconscious and I'm telling you to get him out of the unit.'

Phil just sighed and I just stared at him. I think he realised I wasn't joking, as I continue just to look at him.

'I'll deal with the case, it won't be on your workload.' Phil said.

'All Fin's been through, everything. And you think this is acceptable. She's been your best hire out of anyone in this building, she has put this place the first time and time again, and you repay her by taking on this case? You heard her, she wants him out of here. But you-you go and accept his case? What is the case anyway, he wants to find his sister – well you found her and she doesn't want anything to do with him. Seems pretty open and shut to me.' I said, rubbing my hands together, but I couldn't stop thinking about Finley, alone, getting scans and tests done to make sure she is okay. I should be with her, watching over her, not here, not getting grilled

'I'm not meant to tell you this. Daniel has been looking for Finley, well, his sister's name wasn't Finley but, forever. He's come over because there have been incidents in the family. Their house was set on fire the other week. And he's had threats through saying they'll kill Finley if they ever find me, and that the Devil's gift belongs to the Devil - or something along those lines. They're making death threats against your wife and the future mother of your child.' Phil explained and I just hesitated for a second.

'Are they real claims?'

'That's what we need to try and establish.'

'Let me talk to him.' I said getting up and Phil put his hand on my arm, making me sit back down again.

'No. Your wife is getting scans and checks done. I heard they wanted to do an ultrasound as well. Stay with her, see your baby, make sure she comes around. If you both feel as strongly as you do now when Fin gets discharged, I'll let you see him.' Phil said. 'Tell Fin to get better soon from me.' He said before getting up and disappearing.

Around ten minutes later, the nurses brought back with Fin on the trolley, moving her onto the stationary bed in the room.

'Is... everything okay?' I asked and the nurse nodded.

'Everything is all clear, she might have a concussion because of the fall, but realistically, I think she will be fine. We might keep her in for a while just to make sure everything is okay. We've given her a sedative, but we're going to do the ultrasound now.' The nurse explained and I nodded, moving across to hold Finley's hand. I kissed it gently, noticing how she was colder than usual despite it being in the middle of summer. She was very pale, lying asleep and sedated in her bed. The nurse lifted up her t-shirt, pulling the ultrasound machine to her side as they placed the jelly on her stomach, looking around. Eventually, they found it.

The weird kidney-shaped thing they saw two weeks ago at the last scan had grown a bit more and you could now see the baby shape. I could easily see the head rounded belly and two white shadows which must be the legs. I laughed slightly as I watched our baby on the screen. The nurse turned on the sound, and sure enough, I heard the heartbeat. Strong, steady and fast. I looked over at the nurse and she just nodded.

'Absolutely healthy. Nothing wrong with your baby, Mr Benedict.' The nurse said to me and I just nodded, unable to speak without crying. 'Because it is Fin, we will do another scan when she's awake, so she can also see her baby. But everything looks perfect, she's closer to ten weeks than nine which is why you can see what looks like a baby now.' The midwife explained, handing me three copies of a still of the scan.

'Thank you.' I whispered, my voice strained. But the nurse just smiled and nodded at me.

'Congratulations, Will. You two deserve this.' She said and I just smiled. 'We will leave you alone, we can monitor all of Fin's stats from the bay.'

They all left, leaving me alone with Finley. I kissed her forehead, and her cheek before sitting down. 'I'm sorry.' I told her. I felt awful; I had always asked and told her how much I wanted a baby. And now she was pregnant, now she was going to have a baby, she was getting absolutely battered by it. Look at her – she was unconscious from throwing up so much and dehydration.

It was about six hours later Fin started to stir. I had grabbed my laptop and was sitting next to her bedside, ordering some baby bits and checking my emails. I notice out the corner of my eye Fin squinting slightly, stretching out. Very quickly, I closed my laptop and placed it on the floor, before stretching out and taking Fin's hand.

'Hey, sweetheart.' I whispered as she groaned, rolling onto her side and curling up.

'Am I dead?' She croaked back and I laughed gently, kissing the tip of her nose.

'Very much alive.'

'And my brother, is he still here?'

'I don't know, Fin, I told Phil to get him out of here and he walked out. I've been here with you. You've been out for six hours asleep. You've already had a banana bag.'

'Hmm...' She said. 'Why is he here, Will?' Fin looked up at me, her big green eyes welling up.

'I don't know, don't worry about it. We will work it out.' I said and she just nodded, but still looked sad. 'They did an ultrasound, though. I saw our baby. Actually a baby this time, too.' I explained as I pulled out the photo of the scan, sitting on the edge of the bed, Fin's head against my hip as I held out the scan. Fin laughed slightly under her breath, going to hold the scan but couldn't quite grip onto it, her body too weak. I helped her hold it as she started crying.

'Oh my God, it's actually a baby.' She said. 'It's not a squiggly circle kidney thing anymore, that's a baby!' Fin sobbed.

'Yeah, it's actually a baby.' I repeated to her. 'Heartbeat was there and anything. Perfect little baby.'

'We're having a baby not a kidney bean.' Fin bawled and I laughed, hugging her.

'Yeah, funny that isn't it.' I said as I held her.

'Oh my God.' She repeated softly, running her finger over the baby.

That day and night, we stayed in the hospital as Fin slept. She fell asleep soon after she calmed down and stopped crying. I think it had just hit her she was actually pregnant. The scan kind of hit it home for her, but when they did another ultrasound on her, when she saw our baby moving and heard the babies heartbeat, she was bawling. Eventually, I calmed her down, and soon after she was sound asleep, on her side, the scan still in her hand.

She was terrified about having a baby and becoming a mother, anyone could see that. But I knew she was going to be an absolutely incredible mother. Deep down in her was a maternal instinct. When I was injured or ill, she was there for me, caring for me, calming me down. When one of her team was sad or upset, she was there, sitting with them, talking to them. When one of my nieces or nephews was around, she was on the floor playing games with them or running around in the garden with them. Even when Dog was ill, she was cradling him like a baby and was cooing him so he calmed down. So I knew she would be a fantastic mother – I had no doubts. I just wished she had that belief in herself.

It was ridiculously early in the morning when I heard the door to her hospital room open, and I saw Zed come around the corner. He smiled slightly as he closed the door, coming to sit down on the settee next to the wall. I saw him eye Fin nervously.

'Is she okay?' Zed asked and I just nodded.

'She'll be fine once she's had fluids and vitamins to get her back up and running. Morning sickness took it out of her completely.' I said as I rubbed her hand. 'Why didn't you tell me about her brother?' I asked.

'Because you're still meant to be on your honeymoon.' He replied and I just glared at him. 'Phil told us not too, not until we knew for certain as it could harm Fin in a way we can't expect her to recover. If she finds out about her family and finds out about her past properly. She could break.'

'Respectfully, that's not your choice or Phil's choice to make.' I said back and Zed shrugged.

'Correct answer, but it's also not your choice either.' Zed said back and I sighed, leaning forward to rest my forehead on her hand. 'He's genuine, Will.'

'Who gives up their seven-year-old sister?'

'Do I need to list the stupid things you did when you were fourteen? You stole Traces' motorbike and rode it around town, you nearly killed Xav when you swapped the sugar for salt, You decided to paint your room black.'

'The black looked good.' I said.

'You also ran away when we did that case – the one where a sixteen-year-old girl was kidnapped. You also took down the woman who kidnapped her. Yourself. Without back up, without sufficient training, without anything.'

I sighed.

'Because you were a scared fourteen-year old who panicked. Exactly what Daniel did. Talk to him about it, ask him to tell you his story. You know that Sky, me and Alice are all totally on Finley's side. No matter what, we all are on her fine. But listening to him, it starts to make sense.' Zed said. 'He's still in the interrogation room. I'll sit with Finley, you go and talk to him. Then you make your mind up. Fin will need someone impartial to help her through this, this will be awful for her. You can't help her if you're wanting to deck Daniel.'

I sighed. He's correct though. He's right. Fin will need someone to try and talk her out of her anger and her upset when she's conscious again. She will need someone there to try and talk her out of her emotional numbness. And as her husband, that would be my job.

'If she wakes up, you call me immediately. If she even so much as stirs.'

'Yep, I will call you but she won't, she is sound asleep. We're talking loudly and he hasn't even flinched.' Zed said as he got up, standing next to me. He looked over, gently touching Fin's hand to see the ultrasound Fin was still holding in her sleep and I saw him smile. 'Hey look, now that looks like a baby.'

'I won't be too long.' I said as I got up and left the room, Zed still looking at the scan. I quickly walked down the medical wing hallways and walked down the maze of corridors until I was in the interrogation wing. Sky immediately stood up from the table she was sitting at, nursing a mug of hot chocolate.

'Sky, you don't have to stay up.' I said to her and she shrugged.

'I was scheduled for a night.' She lied weakly and I just gave her a look.

'I'm your boss, I know that's not true.'

'I wanted to help Fin.' She then whispered back and I nodded, hugging her to my side.

'Don't we all.' I mumbled back. 'Is he in there?' I asked.

'Zed's talked you into seeing him?' Sky said looking hopeful and I nodded.

'For Fin's sake, not for Daniel's. He doesn't owe anything to her, he gave her up. I'm doing this for my pregnant wife's sake.' I whispered and Sky nodded. 'He's over in room four still.'

I sighed, brushing down my t-shirt I had been wearing for over thirty-six hours. I hesitated but then I realized my wife was sitting in hospital after passing out and smashing her head on the solid concrete floor and I needed to get back to her as soon as I could as she could wake up any moment. Without any further hesitation, I took Sky's security card she was holding out to me and I walked through the interrogation room and into the room.

Daniel, who was slouched over on the table, reading a book, sat up properly once he saw me come in. He must have clocked my face as he stood up, offering me his hand. I hesitated before I shook his hand.

'H - hi.' He said and I just quickly nodded.

'Hi. This isn't a formal interview or anything, just a quick few questions. I'll contact you in a few more days if we find anything in what you are saying.' I said as I sat down on the seat opposite him and he nodded.

But I looked at him for a second – I could see Fin's features in him. The blonde hair that had darker streaks in and was curly. The piercing blue eyes and the freckles across the face. And the dimple in his cheek. The exact same as the dimple I made fun of in Fin's cheek. The same one I stick my finger into when she's smiling at the TV, or that appears at night when she's asleep and I'm gently running my fingers down her arm and she does that beautiful thing where she smiled and she blushes as she nudges herself into my side when she's asleep, like a cat. I knew without even a shadow of a doubt that the man in front of me was my wife's older brother. Which would make him my brother in law? Huh.

'Yeah, yes. Anything.' He said.

'Why did you give up your little sister? Your seven-year-old sister?' I asked and he looked devastated as he looked down at the table.

'I didn't know what would happen.' He whispered. 'I came home from my club, and my mum and dad were just freaking out and screaming at me, saying there was a lost child. My siblings were all sitting in the living room just staring at Moira -'

'Sorry - Moira?' I asked.

'My sister. Her name was Moira.' He said and I took a deep breath. Of course, Finley would have a name that wasn't Finley. Finley was the name given to her at the orphanage she was dropped off at. It meant the fair warrior or the fair hero. But her name was Moira.

'Carry on.' I whispered.

'They were all staring at her, they were scared of her. She was their little sibling, the seventh child, they all doted on her. She was the cutest one in the family, the one with the big eyes and the cute cheeks. And everyone was terrified of her. Everyone was yelling and screaming. My Dad, he was known for being a bit... aggressive. He's gone now, he's out of our lives, but he was aggressive. He used to... lash out. I could tell he was getting to that point, he kept threatening Moira and it wasn't safe for her so I took her out of there. So I took her out of there, I said I would take her to the police station but I couldn't because they would ask and Dad would get taken away from us. And we would get put back into care. We had no family nearby, nowhere. So I took her to the orphanage, just for a day so I can smooth things over at home. Moira's gift we all knew it was the Devil's gift but she never had done anything critical. She just removed people's memories for a day, a week at the worse so that's what I thought. But I went home after dropping her off, and they didn't even remember _anything._ For weeks I tried to show them photos of Moria, videos, her drawings, everything I could and they just didn't remember. They eventually started to repeat what I said so I thought it was time I could bring her home. I just assumed she would be at the orphanage still. I asked them when I dropped her off there will she stay there so I can visit and they said yes. I didn't know. I went back and they said he got moved onto another care home on the other side of Ireland. I asked for a contact number, a name, any paperwork. And they lost track of her. And I haven't seen her since. I have no idea if she's alive.' Daniel was crying by this point and I had to admit Zed was correct. I had started to feel for him. 'For years I've been looking for her. I went to university to study social work. I'm a social worker to try and work out the system, work out where she works. But I can't. She just disappeared. I've tried everything. The guilt is eating me alive, I lost my sister.'

I looked at him for a few seconds and he just seemed genuinely upset and he meant it. And he wasn't a risk or a danger - he was completely genuine. I tried to think what it must have been like if it was myself and my family in those positions. I tried to think if it was Zed that had been giving up to an orphanage – If I had given Zed up when he was a kid. The guilt would eat me alive. It would destroy me. So I had to tell Daniel something – even if I knew Fin would kill me for it.

'She's alive. She's fine.' I whispered and he just looked at me. 'She's fine.'

'Wait, what, what do you know?' Daniel said.

'Moira? I think I know where she is. And if she is who I think she is, she is doing perfectly. She is doing good for herself.' I said.

'No, Mr Benedict, you can't do this to me. Do you know where my sister is, I need to warn her. I need to talk to her. Please, Mr Benedict. I've done all of this to try and find my sister and you turn around and tell me she's fine and that's it, I'm meant to walk away.'

'She will kill me if I tell you.' I sighed.

'I will kill you if you don't tell me. And I'm sitting right in front of you, and she's somewhere far away.' He retorted back, and I got irritated.

'Yes well.' I said, irritated.

'No, you can't just tell me she's fine and expects me to think that it's all okay.'

'She won't forgive me.' I said.

'I won't forgive you, I will kill you – why do you care so much about her anyway? Why do you care so much? Why do you want to protect her so much?' Daniel started to raise his voice.

'Because she's my wife.' I raised my voice back before I stopped, deeply sighing as Daniel just looked at me. 'We're married.'

'You - what? She's just a kid.' Daniel said softly before he looked down at my hand, seeing a ring.

'She's twenty-five now, she's not a kid. We just got married, we're meant to be on our honeymoon now.' I laughed gently.

'Where is she then? Moira? She must be close, then, she must be here.' Daniel said as he started to look around the interrogation room like she was going to appear suddenly on the ceiling.

'She's... on the base. Yeah.'

'Where is she, get her here now.' Daniel said.

'She's asleep and she's in the hospital.' I said softly and Daniel just appeared to lose his mind.

'What do you mean she's in the hospital? Is she okay? Why did you let her get injured? Why is Moria in the hospital? Will she be okay?'

'Fin is fine. She is in the hospital because she was throwing up and she needed to get fluids into her but she will be absolutely fine.' I explained and he just stopped.

'Fin?' He asked.

'That's the name given to her after she was moved on from the care home. Finley Betha Saoirse Loughlin. Well, as of eleven days ago, Benedict.'

'I came over to see Finley to try and help me find my sister. I heard she was the best of the best at her job. And she's my _sister?'_

 _'_ She is the best of the best, she's incredible. Her rough past has helped her become the amazing person she is now. I'm going to get back to her now, someone will come and sort you out. I'll see... I'll see if Fin wants to see you. I'll talk to her for you. But she's got a lot going on right now, she's not very well because of the baby and because of the whole situation and I can't guarantee how she will react to you, considering she did pass out when she saw you through the door.' I said, standing up. Daniel very clumsily stood up, the chair knocking the metal table leg as he leant over to shake my hand. I nervously shook it back.

'Thank you, thank you so much.' He said and I just nodded curtly as I walked out the door. Just as I got to the door frame, I heard him say 'Wait, baby, what baby?'.

'How did it go?' Sky asked and I nodded.

'Eh.' I said and she nodded. 'If you are on a night, and you weren't lying to me. Can you file him into one of the staterooms in the North wing to stay for a week, and if you did lie to me, book yourself in for a disciplinary meeting.' I joked and she smiled.

'Meeting in two days' time it is.' She said and I shook my head.

'Go home, Sky.' I called back to her.

'Not going to happen, Mr Loughlin.' She called back, laughing and I turned around as I called the lift.

'That's not how the marriage works, Sky, I didn't take her last name.' I called her back. 'She's not the main one in the marriage, she took my last name. I'm - I'm the man in the relationship.'

'Sure.' Sky sniggered.

'No, you're right. Mr Loughlin.' I said as the elevator doors shut.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

I walked back into Finley's room where she was still sound asleep on the bed. Zed was sat on the chair next to her, looking at the scan before he looked up at me. He left the scan on the side as he stood up.

'She's been sound asleep.' Zed said and I nodded. 'How did it go with Daniel?'

'I listened to him and ended up telling him that I was married to his sister, his sister is in hospital, and she's pregnant. Fin is going to murder me.' I explained as I sat down on Fin's bedside, gently running my hand through her hair as she slept. She had finished her second bag, so I knew she was still sleeping because of the sedation, and once she wakes up all things crossed, she should feel a bit more with it. I was quite relieved our baby was fine, though. Just seems to appear our baby is torturing Fin.

'It's compelling, isn't it?' Zed asked and I just nodded.

'Yeah, but Fin won't listen. It's the bad side of her past that's coming to light for everyone to see. She won't want everyone to know that.' I whispered.

'She was just a kid, we all know that. None of us could control our gifts when we were seven. Just – look at Yves and Grandpops shed. He set that on fire when he was what... nine? Because he saw a spider in there? Hell, can any of us actually control our gifts now?' Zed explained and I sighed and nodded.

'Fin doesn't see it like that though. She sees it as she can't control it, so she's at fault and she's a failure. So - having her brother here reminding her what she lost won't help her.'

'This might be the time you have to persuade her. The threats he's coming out with seem genuine. Someone is targeting their family to try and find Moira, they know about her gift. If they find out Fin is Moira, they will immediately start targeting her and your unborn child. She will hate it and probably get shitty with you, but you'll have to at least make her sit in with him for a while.' Zed said. 'I won't be in until later.'

'Thought you and Sky were on a night shift?'

'Oh yeah, she lied to you.' Zed said as he walked out.

I smiled slightly as I continued to play with her hair. It was another hour or so before she started to stir. Rather suddenly, she jumped awake, kicking off the blanket and trying to get out of bed.

'Woah, Woah.' I said, stopping her as she just looked at me. I kissed her. 'You're doing fine, now sit down and stay down.' She nodded nervously, taking a few deep breaths before she met my eye again.

'Are you alright?' I asked her and she nodded but started to cry.

'Why is he here, Will? Why?' She sobbed.

'He's trying to help you. Perhaps you should sit down and talk to him, for at least ten minutes. Listen to what he has to say.'

'Why are you on his side, Will.' She said, slightly annoyed. I pulled her to my side, hugging her tight. 'You're meant to be on my side. I married you. You're my husband. You're meant to be on my side.'

'Fin. I went to see him when you were sedated. He told me his side, and he was genuine. He made a mistake giving you up but he was a scared kid. And he has spent the rest of his life trying to find you. He's a social worker in Ireland, hoping to find you. It is your choice what you want to do at the end of the day and I will support you either way. You know I will. But I honestly think you need to talk to him. Just to get it all off your chest.'

'He gave me up once, he destroyed me. I can't have that happen again.' Fin cried.

'He has spent the last eighteen years looking for each, each day and night, he's tried to find you in every way he can. He won't give you up again, not after fighting this long to find you.' I explain to her as I picked up Finley, placing her on my lap. 'I won't let him hurt you, Finley. You're my wife, you are everything and I promise I will never let you get hurt.'

She leant against my shoulder before eventually nodding.

'When can I talk to him, then?' She whispered.

'You're free to go whenever, you've had your meds. But, if you go talk to him, you're going in a wheelchair. And after, we're going home for a week or two and you're going to rest and we're not even going to mention this building until we are physically forced back to work.' I said and she nodded.

'Fine.' She agreed.

A few hours later, I managed to force Fin into a wheelchair after getting her discharged from the hospital. She told me she still wanted to go and speak to Daniel even though I told her it was best to sleep on this decision. But she was persistent, and eventually, I gave up and pushed her through the Unit to the interrogation rooms. It had got to the point that it was the middle of the day, and our entire unit was at work. People started to see myself pushing Fin around in a wheelchair, her backpack over my shoulders, and came and say hello. I could tell Finley was slightly embarrassed, but she still was happy and polite. Eventually, I pushed her into the interrogation room before I stopped.

'Want me to come in with you?' I asked her as she just stared at Daniel, who was on a laptop in the room now. I could only guess he was put in one of the rooms overnight and was brought back in for more questioning. They must have deemed he wasn't a threat to give him his laptop back to do some work on.

'No, no.' Fin just whispered.

'I'll be out here, then. You need anything, you call. Say anything and I will be in there.' I told her, kissing her forehead. She nodded but stayed there. 'Fin, don't look so scared of him. He won't take you back to that life.'

'I know.' She whispered with her voice strained as she pushed herself out of the wheelchair, pulling her t-shirt down. She had changed into the fitness gear provided by the Unit – a tight black camisole which emphasised her tiny bump. I had only just about noticed it when we were on our honeymoon and she was walking around without a t-shirt on. I don't think anyone would notice it yet, or they would just assume it was a tiny bit of chub that Fin had put on around her lower abdomen but I knew differently. That was our baby. I kissed her before she looked at Daniel again before she entered the interrogation room.

Daniel looked at Finley for a second, and you could see it dawn on his face. He lost all colour before he stood up nervously, the sound of his chair clanking against the table as he pushed it back echoing on the sound system. He continued to look at Finley, his mouth agape as Fin looked at him nervously, biting her lip as she looked at the floor. Daniel backed out the table, still looking at her before he walked up to her and hugged her tight. I could see him crying as Fin stood there awkwardly, not hugging back.

'Moira. I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry I gave you up and I've regretted every single minute since.' He said.

'Sorry... Moira?' Fin asked.

I quickly hit the button for the microphone in the interrogation room.

'Fin, Moira is the sister he gave up.' I said and I could see them both hesitated.

'Yeah, it's just Finley now.' She said and Daniel nodded, a bit taken back.

'Oh, yeah, of course.' Daniel said as he just looked at her. The silence was deafening as Fin sat down on the chair by the interrogation room table. She was once so confident, my Fin, but now she was terrified. The silence was awful. 'So, how is everything going?'

'I just don't understand why you didn't come back for me. Why you didn't fight for me.' Fin said and the sadness hit me hard. She was heartbroken still. Finley never actually went into details what had happened and I never really went into details with her. She never wanted to discuss it so I never discussed it with her. I respected that. But I guess it meant I never knew how it still affected her – how it still upset her. She never told me how she felt about it.

'You were too young to remember. Dad was an awful man. He was very aggressive, very abusive – to everyone. It wasn't safe for you. Mum and Dad were getting irate. You were in danger. I can, much like your husband, can sense danger. You were in imminent danger. I had to get you out of there. I was then too scared to pick you up, to bring you to the danger again. You were safe in that orphanages. You were getting an education lesson, three meals a day, toys to play with and books to read. That's all you used to do – read. I did come back for you, Finley. You were moved on to a new care house after eight days. That's all it was. Eight days. I did come back for you, I never have stopped looking for you since.'

I saw Fin stop to wipe a tear as she started to cry.

'I'll come back.' Fin said quietly as she headed out the room, and I immediately got up and met her on the other side of the door. The door closed behind her as I hugged her tight as she cried into my t-shirt.

'Come on, poppet, let's go home.' I whispered.

'But... Daniel.' She said and I shook my head.

'He will still be here whenever you want to return. He isn't going to go anywhere. But you need to go and you need to sleep and rest. You're jetlagged and still mildly ill and you're also pregnant. So you need to head home, and you need to sleep.' I told her gently, starting to pull her out of the room as she shuffled awkwardly on the floor. 'Fin, come on.'

It took ages to get Fin out of the building. She appeared to be going downhill again, she was very tired again and seemed a bit... stiff. I managed to get her into my car, but by the time I got out of the car park, Fin has already fallen asleep in the car.

/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\

Six days later – Fin's POV

It felt like my body had been hit by a train. I hurt all over but I had started to not sleep constantly. The last five days I had just napped for half of the day and slept solidly all night. Will, bless him, had stayed with me the entire time. He stayed awake at night to make sure I was okay, and during the day he as on the settee with me as I slept. He brought home his work laptop and I noticed he had taken over my cases and my staff, sending emails and helping with generic requirements. But today I had managed to stay awake for the entirety of the day. It was now 6 in the evening, and I still felt alright. Will and I had gone out on a walk too, just down to the fish and chip shop and back, but I managed that. It hurt, my bones hurt, but I did it. I also had to admit there was a baby bump appearing. This morning as I showered, I noticed it. In the mirror, a small bump, quite low down. It was easy to notice, my weight never really changed and I still wore the clothes that I bought when I was fifteen. But now there was a tiny bump.

Will came in with two plates as I sat up, flinching slightly. He put the plate of fish and curly fries on my lap as he sat down beside me. A few seconds later two cans of Cola appeared floating in the air and onto the table.

'Eat up.' Will said to me but I continued to just look at my plate. Will gently sighed before picking up a chip and feeding it to me. Eventually, I picked up a fork and dug in. 'Okay, eat it slowly, this is the first food you've had in a while – we don't want it to all reappear.' Will said.

I took it slowly then, and half an hour later I was sat in the crook of Will's arm, questions starting to circle my mind. It took a while for me to finally come out and ask my husband what I needed to ask, to get off my chest.

'Will?' I mumbled.

'Yeah?'

'What's it like to have brothers? Sibling?' I asked and he sighed.

'It's bizarre. At least with me, I have 6 brothers and 6 sisters-in-law or partners of my brothers. So there's an entire bucketful of personalities in there. Some of them it's like having a best friend, someone you can always talk too about anything. Someone you can turn too no matter what you have done. And other ones I can barely stand, I wouldn't talk to them willingly and I only talk to keep them civil.'

'How did you end up so close with Uriel and Zed, but end up hating Vick?' I asked. I had always wondered – I knew him and Uri was close, very close. Constantly texting. And I knew his friendship to Zed was growing and now they were near enough inseparable now.

'Uri and I were always close growing up. We were both very laid back. Trace, the eldest, and Vick were both bad boys, constantly bunking school, tearing up the town, doing everything he can to be a pain in the arse and ruin the town we grew up in. Wrickenridge was a lot smaller back then compared to now. Uri and Vick were in the same grade at school. There are only eleven months between their birthdates. So the worse Vick was, the more saint-like Uri seemed and he played up to it. I was in the grade below them both. I just didn't care for the life Vick had. He was constantly excluded, expelled, in trouble with the police. So I was a bit more laid back. I wasn't Uri's level of the saint but I was never in severe trouble. Uri always looked out for me at school and at home. He helped me with my school work and we used to do shifts at the water school together. So we grew closer. He ended up moving to Denver for college and a year later I moved in with him. When I finished college, he had just found his Soulfinder and moved out to a house in the suburbs. I got the job at the FBI and bought my own house in the suburbs too. And since then we could talk and text freely, and yeah we argue but it's never anything bad.' Will explained to me.

'And Zed?'

'I kind of babied him. He was very much on the line of good and evil. He was a bad boy but had a heart of gold. He didn't mean to be an asshole but couldn't help it. Think... a moody teenager. I used to talk to him, come home from Denver and make him sit down and talk to me. Eventually, he calmed down after he met Sky and we used to call weekly to update each other, and text every other day so. We got closer once he moved.'

'What about Sky then? You're not related to her, she just appeared when you were in college. How did that work when you had practically another sister walk into your life.' I asked as I picked up my drink and took a sip.

'Fin, is this about Daniel?' Will said softly, running his hand up and down my leg.

'Yeah, I didn't disguise it too well.' I said softly.

'Sky just rocked up one day. We heard about her, we dealt with her kidnapping case, we knew she wasn't well and one day at like 2 am she was outside the house. I was already awake, I was finishing an essay and she was there, in Zed's arms, scared shitless. The next day we all looked at her past, the childhood she didn't know. A few days later, she came over when no one was home apart from Zed and I. We got chatting, got laughing and had a joke. It's been, what, five years now? Six perhaps? Ever since then we just get on, we have a laugh.' Will explained. 'But you and Daniel it'll be different. You have to decide what you want to do first. And it'll take time for you two to talk and start getting on.'

'Why is he even here? We're a criminal unit. Giving me up as a kid isn't a crime – so why he is here?'

Will sighed. 'There was an incident. Someone set fire to his family house, threatened Moira saying she's the Devil and need to go back to Hell and they won't stop until she's gone.' Will mumbled and I looked at him. 'I promise I will protect you and I will always protect our little baby. Nothing will happen.'

'Well, no one knows I am his sister so I will be fine.' I said.

'Absolutely.' He said softly before I curled up into him a bit finishing off my dinner. I knew tomorrow I would hit the twelve weeks pregnant mark. The miscarriage rate would drop down to 5% and we could start telling people and getting ready. I made Will promise not to buy any baby clothes or anything. Just in case. I didn't want anything to jinx it. We agreed we would start getting baby ready after twelve weeks. Will's hand met mine. 'So what are you going to do?'

'Is Daniel still in this country?'

'I think so.' Will said.

'I guess maybe talk to him. See what this threat is. Will – what if we won't be safe? What if someone is hunting me down?'

'They aren't. You are untraceable. But you aren't at risk.'

'I don't care if I'm at risk. I care if you're at risk and I care if our baby is at risk.'

'I'm a big boy, I can protect myself. And I promise you now, my little Fin, I will protect you with my life. And when we, in twenty-eight weeks, at the end of February, we go to the hospital and you give birth to our beautiful baby, I will protect them with my life. I will protect you both. And any other kids we go onto have, I will not let anything hurt them, or you.'

'I'll give it a damn good go to protect you, but height might be an issue.' I said and he laughed before kissing me.

'You can protect me from the chest down.' Will said. 'Right, bedtime. You're only just about getting better, we don't want to knock it back again.'

That night, as Will was fast asleep beside me, I remained awake. I was scared. I didn't know hardly anything about those threats Daniel was on about. I wasn't allowed too. I knew there were some threats about me, or rather me but with a different name – Moira. Saying I was the Devil, and I had "it" coming for me. Whatever "it" was that was coming for me, I can't pretend for a second that "it" would be a lovely box of chocolates or a baby shower gift.

Someone wanted me dead. Someone from my past, the thing I tried to hide so hard from Will. And the worst thing is – I didn't even know who wanted me dead. I was seven when I was given up – how on Earth could I annoy someone so much when I was seven they wanted me dead nearly twenty years later?

But I rolled over to look at Will. He was sparked, breathing heavily like he does when he's fast asleep – not snoring but still breathing loud enough that I could hear him. He hadn't shaved in two days and had a thick stubble. His hair – not short but not long – was all over the place. I could see the scar on his cheek – still very faint but there. He told me the story of how he got it; he was helping a teenager who was kidnapped, he was a teenager himself. The teenager had been kidnapped and he went in with no back up to save the boy, and the kidnappers attacked him and he got cut. Xav tried to heel it but it was too deep. His arm was under my neck but I could still see the jaggered scar from when he was stabbed a year and a bit ago. On his chest, a scar from when he was shot trying to save his mum, Sky, Phee and Diamond from a castle in Italy. But he always brushed his injuries off. He was tall and built like a rugby player, which always made me seem weak and feeble in his arms. I gently touched his cheek and he smiled ever so slightly and my heart faltered.

I love Will to pieces, I really do. I never knew how much love could affect you. I never realised how strong the bond was. But this was so much more than the bond. Even if Soulfinders didn't exist, I would still love Will as much as I do now. He was perfect. Yeah, he had his flaws and we argue, but we know the boundaries. He was brought up in such a brilliant way – I had to give his parents that. He was the perfect gentleman. He always looked after me, made sure I had a coat in winter or an umbrella if it was due to rain. Every time I was sad, he was there next to me. He was perfect.

So I knew whatever the threat was, no matter how bad it was or in whatever form it comes from, that no matter how isolated it made me feel, no matter how singled out I was, I would always have Will beside me. And it didn't matter if I thought Will deserved better than me, or I wasn't the perfect partner for him. He was my everything, and he's told me countless times that I was his everything. Therefore, I knew that Will would be there, beside me, going through Hell, going through thick and thin with me. No matter what this threat was, how it would affect me, and no matter how it progresses, the one thing I could count on was Will being beside me the entire time.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Two weeks after the whole collapsing after the honeymoon incident, I was allowed back to work. It was good timing as I was going insane being locked up and babied by Will. He was very scared about me, you could see it from miles away, which is why he kept me sitting down and bringing me food, bringing me water. Eventually, the day rocked up for the twelve-week scan. We waited in the lobby of the hospital as Will filled in the forms for me as I could barely move in fear. I knew, though, I was around the twelve and a half week mark, which meant the chances of miscarriage dropped down to around 5% - which wasn't a lot. Which meant I could start relaxing about the whole pregnancy thing. We got called into the room, I rolled my top up and they put that weird gel on the very tiny bump I had gained and sure enough, they found our baby.

Our baby had actually started to look like a baby now – you could see the head, tummy, feet, hands, everything. You could even make out the dip where the eyes would be and the little nose. I started to cry as I saw our baby and heard their heartbeat. I even looked over at Will who was holding my hand and saw he was crying too.

As we walked out of the hospital, I told him I thought it was a boy. Well, I had started to get the hunch back ages ago. He laughed and said he thought it would be a girl and we would just have to wait another eight weeks to find out. Rather than going home that day, we went into the nearest shopping centre and finally started buying some baby bits; a grey car seat with white patterning and some clothes.

Only thing was I could no longer hide it at work. Anything I wore had started to show the bump. So I just started to own it, I refused to get baggier t-shirts and started to sit down in the pit. I found a spare desk and I just started to sit at it and really liked it.

I saw Will come over to me, squatting down beside me with his hand on my leg. At work, we had started to give up with the whole "no one can know" thing. It was hard when we both rocked up after a month-long absence both wearing wedding rings and I had a baby bump. People had started to chat but as of yet, no one has come up and asked either one of us. I raised my eyebrows at him as I continued to type.

'Fin.' He whispered.

'Yep?' I asked, taking out my headphone to look at him. He smiled at me.

'Um, we need to talk. In private.' Will said and I frowned and looked at him in a slight panic. 'Nothing bad, sweetheart, just not shopfloor appropriate. You never know who's listening in down here, isn't that right Pierce.'

'Absolutely.' Pierce said. He was a sturdy guy, about 6 foot, with greying hair. 'Wait, boss, did you just call big boss sweetheart?'

'Don't call me boss.' Will said.

'Don't call me big boss, the hell Pierce?' I asked him as Will laughed. I got up as Will gently touched my back before I started walking out of the pit, down the corridors. Will followed me.

'In here.' Will said, pointing to a cleaning cupboard. I nodded as I snuck in as Will followed behind me. The door closed, he locked it before he turned around and kissed me hard, pushing me against a shelf. It took a few minutes before I pushed away.

'Will.' I said softly. The hormones had just started to hit me, but it appears that Will had somehow also got a hint of the same hormones as me. It led to a lot of fun. But never at work.

'Sorry.' He whispered.

'You wanted to talk to me, not for us to have sex in a cleaning cupboard – which is slightly ironic as this cleaning cupboard is vile and hasn't been cleaned in a while.'

'Yeah well you're going to get upset after I tell you this, so I tried to get all happy about it.' Will said.

'What's happened?' I asked.

'It's about the whole Daniel thing.' Will told me and I just looked at him. Daniel and I had attempted to get on a bit more, but realistically, it was always going to be a bit rough. He extended his stay to try and sort out our relationship together but realistically it was never going to be easy. We tried to sit down and talk, have a cup of coffee, but it was just awkward. Eventually, he went back to Ireland.

'Right...' I said and Will sighed, resting against the shelf. He held my hand.

'There has been another incident. A parcel was found outside Daniel's house, he called the police who called the bomb squad and diffused it. Our two forensic techs have flown over to examine it for us. There was a card through the door saying they know he's hunting down Moira and when he finds her, they will kill her. The thing is, Daniel's just moved house, two weeks before coming over here to find us. They might be following him.'

I sat back on the shelf as I teared up. If they were following him, they had found me.

'There's no reason to panic and believe they know where you are.' Will said, 'Fin, sweetheart.' He said as I started to cry.

'We're not safe.'

'Hey, hey, Fin. Yes, we are. Nothing indicates they know who you are. Your gift is not on the system, all it says is able to read thoughts which is so common. We've made up fake reports for you, falsified your history. Anyone who goes and checks will see fake doctors report, school reports and attendance. You've always been Finley Loughlin, you've got high levels at school and you played the violin at your local towns hall in an under eighteens orchestra. If anyone starts looking into your past, we get alerted straight away. Fin, you are so safe.' Will reassured me as he was hugging me.

'If we're completely safe, why did you have to pull me into a cleaning closet to tell me that?' I asked once I stopped sobbing.

'Just in case.' Will mumbled. I started to protest but he spoke louder than me. 'Not because I have any fears, but I'm not risking you or our baby.'

'Will this is what I warned you about before I got married. I'm not a good person, I wasn't then and I'm probably only pretending to be a good guy now. I can't mess you up.'

'And I warned you my family are nutjobs before we got married – yet here you are. And you're such a good person. We've all had issues with our gift, it's just me not controlling my gift no one notices, but you – well, everyone would notice. So you're not a bad person because of that so... shh.' Will said as he kissed me. 'Look, no one wanted to tell you about Daniel but I couldn't keep it from you. You are completely safe, no one thinks you're at risk not even in the slightest. I just was never going to lie to you. Don't worry about it poppet.'

'Na, we just have to worry about sending your ridiculous pregnancy cards to your family.' I said, still overthinking the Daniel thing. I decided I would call him later, just to see if he was okay.

'What do you mean ridiculous?' Will said as he pulled out a tiny card from his back pocket – it was an A6 size, and on the front in black and white had "Thank you for coming to our wedding, but we forgot to tell you..." and inside had the best photo from the wedding; we were outside and laughing looking at each other as we held the early sonograph between us. Will had just written, "Baby Benedict" and the due date – 21st February – on the other side. I did have to admit it was actually really sweet.

'So extra. A phone call would do.'

'Well you can phone people and tell them, I've already ordered a pack of seventy-five.' Will laughed.

'Seventy-five?' I hissed.

'I have a big family, can't send some a card and not others. I mean, it could cost an arm and a leg in postage stamps but you have to be fair to everyone.' Will said as he kissed me gently.

'Didn't like, 110 people, come to the wedding?' I asked.

'Well, 35 people don't get cards. They're either like 5 or live in the same household. I don't love my extended family that much.' Will joked,

'Has your mum stopped harassing you yet?' Will just looked at me. 'Wishful thinking.'

'Oh, she's never going to leave us alone now. I've managed to talk her out of visiting for a month after the due date. She seemed to think an appropriate gift was herself.'

'That is never an appropriate gift – and I love your mum but god even a weekend with her is taxing.'

'Try an entire eighteen years.' Will said as he played with my hair.

'So what do we do now?' I asked and Will looked at me.

'You need to book off your maternity leave, we have to decide the whole maternity paternity balance and book off that time.'

'I meant with Daniel, but yeah also with the baby.'

'Nothing we can do. They have the forensics out there examining everything, the case is being headed by Phil. They've made it all anonymous and they're treating it like a training case for everyone in the Unit to try and get new ideas and new leads. We cannot have anything to do with it.' Will said, looking at me with his bright blue eyes. 'But saying that the passport to the file is the date of Phil's dog's adoption.'

'11 April 2012?' I asked.

'How did you remember that – but yes 11042012 and the dog's initials. The files are on the shared drive under DDA slash 4121.' Will said before winking. 'I didn't tell you anything.'

'So you don't want me to worry but you want me to look into the folder?'

'Oh I don't want you to worry, and I don't want you to look into the folder but saying that I know how stubborn you are and you won't give up until you can look at it, so I am just saving you the hassle and the stress.' Will said before kissing me again.

'Special pregnancy treatment.'

'Absolutely.' Will laughed before opening the door and showing me the way back to the pit.

/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\

After that point, everything had gone smoothly. That night, Will and I sat down and decided about maternity and paternity leave. Both of us would take off three months in the beginning, before Will would return to work for three days a week. After six months, I would go back to work, working 3 days a week then Will would work the rest of the days, and the next week Will would work three days and I would make up the last two. That would continue for at least a year and a half until we decided what to do after that. The talk went a lot better than both of us thought it would and we were able to clear out plans with Phil the next day, who approved them immediately.

The weeks after was fairly chill; it was coming until the end of summer, a lot of staff were on their summer holidays and the work environment was calm. Two days after Will told me about the Daniel situation, I called him and we had a brief fifteen-minute conversation before it all went quiet and I made the excuse to hang up. But after that I heard nothing more – forensics were sealed and the case file was all negative with no traces. Which was good and bad. If there was no trace, it meant that whoever was doing it had gone to ground and was no longer a threat to me. But it was what it seemed – they had gone to ground. They were silent. But they were still out there. It got to the beginning of October, and the twenty-week scan was next week. I wheeled my chair across to Sky's desk.

'Sky.' I simply said softly.

'Finley.' She replied back.

'Alice.' I also whispered slightly louder as Alice appeared around the corner of the desk.

'Boss.' Alice said, knowing it wound me up.

'Next week Thursday I have the twenty-week ultrasound. I've cleared both of your days as training. You're both coming with me.'

'Isn't Will going with you?'

'Yeah, he is. But I want to find out the gender, Will doesn't want too – or at least not until gender reveal party because _that has to be a thing_ apparently. It's an American thing, he wants to have one stateside but we're not going to go over until week after Christmas and that's in like, ten weeks time and I can't last that long. So we discussed it. I found out on the day of the scan, I keep it a secret but at least I will know, he can find out after Christmas. So you two are coming with me and I'm spoiling the surprise for you both.'

Alice turned to Sky. 'Bets still on?'

'Absolutely.' Sky replied.

'Then yes, we will come with.'

'Bets?' I asked.

'Boy or girl, standard bets. We have good odds going.' Alice said.

'Oh, can I get in?' I laughed. 'Twenty quid says its a boy.'

'Yes Fin!' Sky cheered before she high-fived me and I just looked at her. 'I said it will be a boy. Alice is convinced it will be a girl.' I just continued to look at Sky, not trusting her for a second as I stole one of her sweets from her desk.

'Look at her, it's clearly a girl.' Alice protested.

'Well, Will and I have already discussed names and have two names for each gender. I'll give two hundred quid if you can guess them.' I said to them and saw Sky grin slightly. 'Off you go.'

I trusted my instincts – I had a feeling Sky knew something. I've had the feeling for a while but she seemed too happy that I agreed it was a boy. Sky wrote down something on the piece of paper and handed it to me smugly. I flipped over the piece of paper to see, very neatly in her cursive handwriting, the two names Will told me he wanted to name his son if the baby was a boy; Jacob Noah. Noah after his uncle that died. Zed was three when he died, so Zed didn't know the uncle – or can't remember him. So Sky couldn't have got the name Noah from that very faint link. Jacob was my addition. Just a name I've always loved. We couldn't decide which way around, but Jacob Noah Benedict just sounded a lot better.

'And you've shown your cards, Sky, we're talking later.'

'Ah.' Sky said and I nodded.

'What.' Alice said.

'I think at some point Zed's had a premonition about the baby, which is why she already knows the gender and the names we decided only two nights ago – and based on how guilty she looks at the moment, it isn't a good premonition.' I explained to Alice.

'Don't tell me, I don't want to know – but is the baby okay?' Alice asked Sky and she looked torn for a second.

'Sky, me of all people know you can't control your gift. I'm not mad at you.' I told Sky and she nodded, tearing up. I touched her arm. 'I'm not mad, I'm not upset but I'm not wrong, am I? You've seen something, haven't you?'

She nodded. 'Can we go up to your office.'

'Absolutely, come on.' I said, standing up and pulling down my vest camisole. My bump had started to grow and was now bigger than my boobs, so when I looked down I saw bump before anything else. I held Sky's hand gently as she was on the edge of tears. Alice stood up too, touching her shoulder.

I jogged up the stair heading too the joint office. I opened the door to see Will sitting at his desk. I smiled at him but the look on his face dropped when he saw Sky behind us, near enough in tears.

'Sky, you alright?' He asked.

'Can you give us like an hour?' I asked and he nodded, immediately closing his laptop.

'Shall I go and grab us all some McDonald's for lunch?' Will said and I nodded.

'Good call – get two ice creams for me please?' I said and Will nodded, coming up and kissing me as he put his hand on my bump.

'Got it. Usual orders, girls?' He said and Alice just nodded.

'Yep, Sky will also take her normal but she asked for an iced lemonade rather than a Cola.' Alice said and Will nodded, as he smiled at me and left the office. I grabbed the beanbags we kept in the cupboard in the corner and threw them on the floor, before falling onto one. Sky sat down nervously on the side of the green bag, and Alice sunk into the third bag.

'So, what's up Sky?' I asked. 'I'm not mad, no matter what you tell me. We're family now, all three of us. I won't ever be mad at you, okay?'

'It was the night you found out you were pregnant, like seventeen weeks ago now. I went back up to the bed and that's when I saw it. It was Zed's dream that I ended up seeing. It happens occasionally.'

'Okay, what happened?' I asked her softly.

'You had your baby there. I will not tell you names or gender.'

'Well we can assume it's a boy called Jacob Noah Benedict..' Alice said and I grinned and nodded.

'Yeah, so, a boy named Jacob Noah Benedict. Glad I will win my way with the whole calling the baby Jacob. Continue.' I said and Sky smiled.

'Uh, it was me, you, Will and Zed. We were in the lounge, Jacob was on your chest and he wasn't settling down. You weren't doing too well. Will was upstairs with Zed, and they were arguing. Something had happened between you and Will, you had an argument. Will... was walking out.' Sky sobbed and my face dropped. Will was going to walk out on me? My heart started racing and I felt so sick but I just nodded for Sky to continue.

'We tried to convince him to stay, to talk to you about it but he said he couldn't, not after what you had done. He can't treat you like you're a human. And he would come back and get Jacob when Jacob isn't reliant on you. And he walked out.' Sky sobbed.

'Well, that doesn't seem like Will at all.' Alice said.

'I know, it might not happen but Zed said it was very likely...'

'Why would Will walk out on me – what did I do?'. I asked and Sky just sunk back into her beanbag a bit more. 'You know what, that doesn't matter. Sky, whether we break up and he walks out on me or not, none of that will be your fault.'

'Why would Will leave you and your baby?' Sky sobbed.

'I don't know, I did something. But you can't spend the next five and a half months worrying about it.' I explained.

'And let's be honest, what you saw isn't Will. He loves Finley to pieces, he hasn't even argued with her from day one and he will absolutely dote upon that child. He will love little Jacob more than words can even say. So I'm sure that your premonition isn't what it seems, there will be more to it that it seems. Fin, Will and Jacob will all be fine, this won't be the end of the happiest couple around and it won't be the end of them as a family.' Alice said and I just nodded at her as she looked at me in a certain way. 'Because I'm still single and I'm living vicariously through her life, and she needs to have lots and lots of babies.'

'What happened with your date with that Ben guy from the hospital ward?' I asked and she just rolled her eyes.

'Don't start that.'

'It can't have been that bad.' I said.

Alice had just about got halfway through her story when Will came back in, carrying three bags of fast food. He dished out our lunches before telling me he was heading home.

It was about five hours after that we agreed to go home. We had calmed Sky down about Zed's premonition to the point she wasn't overly concerned. Alice didn't seem concerned either, shrugging it off as she knows Will wouldn't walk out on me, and he wouldn't walk out on our newborn baby either. So I started to drive home.

I was over the moon to know our baby was a boy and somehow in the future, I would convince Will that Jacob is a better name for our baby than Noah. But I knew how accurate Zed's premonitions are, especially when they're strong enough for Sky to see as well. I knew it was going to happen.

I couldn't remember the drive home or even opening the front door. But somehow, I did. I dropped my bag on the floor, pulling my t-shirt over my belly, as I walked down the corridor and into the kitchen.

'Hey, Fin.' Will said and I just went up to Will, kissing him hard. He immediately wrapped his arms around my waist, holding my back as he kissed back. A few minutes later, Will pulled away.

'What's got into you?'

'You won't ever walk out on me, will you?' I asked nervously. Will pulled away slightly, looking super offended.

'No, no of course not.' Will asked. 'I am nothing without you, I have nothing without you. I would never walk out on you – why would you say that?' He asked.

'You wouldn't walk out on our baby either, will you?' I mumbled, tearing up.

'Absolutely not. I would never walk out on my child or my wife. That's a ridiculous thing to do. I was brought up better than that, but I love you to the moon and back, and I already love our baby beyond words can say. I would never walk out on you or our baby. What is going on - is this about Sky earlier?'

'Yeah, she saw Zed's premonition.'

'What.' Will said, sitting down at the table as he realised what I had started to say. I sat down opposite him.

'She saw Zed's premonition, the night we found out about the baby.' I said, hand on the bump. 'We had an argument, you were arguing with Zed, telling him you were leaving me no matter what he says. You said you couldn't treat me the same way as before like I was a human. Our baby was there, Sky said the baby was about five weeks old, on my chest. You had a bag, you walked out. You said you'd come back and take the baby when he wasn't dependent on me anymore. I really pissed you off. I don't know what I did or how I pissed you off that much but you walked out on me Will, you walked out on me and left me with the baby.' I started sobbing as he got up to me, kneeling down in front of me as he took my hands.

'Fin, Fin. I promise I will not walk out on you. I will not walk out on you or our son.' Will looked at me with a small smile on his face.

'Son?' I asked, looking at him

'I've known. I've known for ages. In Colorado, Zed had a premonition when we first moved over there and told me quietly. He saw us both with four kids in a few years times. So I don't walk out in the middle of the night from you and our son.' Will said.

'Four kids?' I said. 'What am I to you, a baby factory?'

'Not the point. I don't walk out on you, or our son. Now, I'm not saying that what Zed saw is wrong and I'm not arguing that the inevitable won't happen. Something happens, yes, but I promise you now that I will come back. Whatever you saw has to be a scripted move or something – it could be to do with all of this happening at the moment. But I will never walk out on you, or our son.'

'Why did you want a gender reveal party if you knew the gender?' I asked.

'Try and get you excited about it all. The baby is suffocating you, so I thought if I could make it something exciting you would get excited.' Will said.

'Will, just because our son – Jacob, Noah is totally a middle name – is literally killing me alive – or, was, I actually feel fine now - it doesn't mean I'm not excited for our baby. I am so excited for it to be me, you and our Jacob.'

'Noah.' He corrected me and I just stared at him.

'Nope.' I said and he just smiled at me, before getting up slightly to kiss me. 'Why didn't you tell me sooner you knew about him?'

'Spoilers.' He said. 'Right, you. Bedtime. Can't let my cranky pregnant funny boobed wife go without her beauty sleep.'

'I'm not cranky – wait, hang on, excuse me? Funny boobed wife? What does that mean?' I asked as he kept walking behind me to get me to walk upstairs.

'Wife - it means you were stupid enough to say I do at the bottom of a funny looking carpet in front of all my family in a beautiful dress.'

'No, funny boobed.' I protested and he laughed, kissing me.

'The girls have grown. Now, I'm not saying I'm complaining but...'

'If you want to get in my pants, Will, stop calling me funny boobed.' I said as I climbed into my side of the bed as Will smiled over me, taking his t-shirt off before climbing over me, getting under the duvet with me.

'Getting into your pants was what made you get funny boobed.' He said before laughing and rolling away – but I still just about managed to hit him square in the chest.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

The following week, I went to the maternity unit with Will, Sky and Alice all in tow. The nurse laid me down on the bed, put the conductive jelly on my stomach and the machine on top, and sure enough a few minutes later, our baby appeared on the screen in front of us. He had grown – a lot. You could now see his head, the dip for his eyes and the rise of his nose, his belly and his legs, knees to his tummy – to the point you could even see his ribs forming. I, of course, started crying just looking at our baby move on the screen, then we heard his heartbeat. Strong, fast, steady. Eventually, they asked us if we want to know the gender. Rather than Will leaving the room, he simply called in Sky and Alice to the room. The nurse confirmed what we all knew; our baby was indeed a boy. He was perfectly healthy, no health defect, nothing. The midwife did warn that the baby was growing big, so we would have to watch the babies weight and induce me early if the baby got too big for a natural birth. Apparently, small people weren't destined to have chunky babies.

After the scan, I managed to get into the swing of getting things ready for the baby. Phil, to try and keep me at my best, allowed me to have a day off each week to work from home, but "work" was the elusive term. In that time, I simply started ordering things we would need to welcome our son at the end of February. Will and I had already ordered a crib, a car seat, the most ridiculous amount of towels, linin, and even some clothes. The cards Will has sent out had arrived for almost four weeks ago when I was sixteen weeks gone, but some stragglers still called, wishing us their congratulations. All of Will's brothers and their partners called me personally to congratulate me – all apart from Vick. Who, of course, didn't bother talking to me and had a very brief two-minute conversation with Will who hung up and refused to tell me what had been said.

Four weeks after the scan, I had decided to surprise Will and paint the nursery. We had chosen the smallest spare bedroom in the house, leaving another two bedrooms free as a study and a storage room. Will left for work at half seven, mainly to make up some extra hours to cover my work, and soon after he disappeared I headed down to our local DIY store, buying paints and wallpaper.

We had gone for a very light blue, light grey and stone-coloured room – keeping it pretty gender-neutral. I had managed to hang the wallpaper – a light grey pattern which was slightly raised from the paper – onto the back wall, the one with a small window over. On the larger wall, I painted it a very pale baby blue we had picked out together, before painting the other two walls grey. I knew Will would kill me but I moved the cot into the bedroom, just by the window, before screwing in a light blue blind over the window and a few shelves in the wall. I had just about managed to sort out the rocking chair in the corner when I heard the front door open.

'Finley?' Will called as he walked in.

'I'm up here.' I replied and heard him drop his bag before he ran up the stairs. He grinned at me, kissing me softly before pulling away and rubbing my face.

'Why is there paint on your face?' Will asked.

I quickly grabbed one of my t-shirts from the nearby washing pile and held it out to him. 'Cover your eyes.' I said and he just looked at me.

'What have you done?' He asked.

'Cover your eyes.' I repeated, going on my tiptoes to force the t-shirt over his eyes. I gently took his hand and pulled him to the entrance of the nursery. I positioned him to stand just in the doorway before I pulled the t-shirt off his face. I heard him gasp – only slightly – before walking in and looking around.

'Fin.' He said so softly, his voice full of happiness. 'You did all of this today?' He asked, touching the wallpaper as he admired the room. He looked at me with a grin on one side of his face.

'Yeah, I haven't done much work today. I hoped you wouldn't mind.' I said as I looked out the window, over the garden and across the fields behind our house. In the distance, you could make out the ocean. Will came up behind me, arms around my waist and bump. You could now easily tell I was pregnant, my bump had just been steadily growing and I couldn't hide it with any t-shirts. Everything just made me look pregnant. But I didn't mind – it meant our baby was healthy. Will put his hand on my bump, where our son was growing each day – as he rested his head on the top of my crown. It still didn't quite make sense that I was six months pregnant – but it felt right. Everything was hurting, the heartburn was ridiculous, and I was getting quite tired, but it made it all worth it when I felt his kicks and his wiggles, even if they did wake me up at half two in the morning.

'It's beautiful.' Will said. 'It's amazing.'

'Jacob will love it.' I said with a smirk and Will sighed.

'Well, firstly his name will be Noah, but whatever.'

Three days later, Will and I were sitting in our office, him at the desk and myself on the corner of the table, when Will's phone started to ring. He looked down at his phone as he frowned.

'It's mom.' He simply said.

'Probably should take it then.' I said as he answered the phone. I continued typing on my laptop, doing some work, as he was on the phone.

'Yeah Mom, we're both good – scan was completely clear. Fin decorated the nursery. I'll send you the photos later, but it's beautiful. She's done an amazing job.' I smiled as Will winked at me. There was silence this end of the phone for a while. 'Right... Okay... How long do you need us for?' I looked up at him again. 'We should be able to get the time off work for that, Zed and Sky too, I'm guessing? Yeah, we can approve them too... Let me just ask,' He said before covering the phone as he looked at me.

'Fin, Mom needs us in Colorado for a Net case – apparently, it's really important and people are in danger. She asks if you'll be okay to fly?'

'Yeah, I can fly.' I said.

'Mom she says she's fine to fly – fine, I'll hand you over.' Will said shaking his head as he passed me the phone.

'Hiya Karla.' I simply said.

'Do you feel like you will be able to fly? It is a very long journey for someone who is as pregnant as you are and I don't want you on a plane if you don't think you will be okay – no one will judge you.'

'Honestly, I'll be fine. I'll probably just fall asleep on the plane.'

'Now, do you promise me?'

'Yes, I promise. What is going on though?'

'Oh, don't worry about it before you get here. When do you reckon you'll be able to fly out?'

'No idea – I'll pass you back to Will'

'I love you, my little girl, look after yourself and my grandson!' I heard Karla say as I rolled my eyes, chucking the phone back to Will.

'I told you she would be fine – when do you need us over? We could leave tomorrow morning, is Uri coming? I'll ask him to pick us up from the airport. Will that be too early? That's all fine. I'll book the flights. Stop thanking me. I'll see you tomorrow then, Mom. I love you too. Bye.' Will hung up.

'Guess we're going Colorado tomorrow morning.' I said and he nodded.

'Apparently another Net family has come forward with something big, Mom couldn't tell me over the phone but she thinks you could be a massive help. I'll book the tickets now. But we can share my room now we're married.'

'Really? If we share a room I might _end up pregnant_.' I joked and he laughed at me.

'That would be unforeseen.' Will said and I grinned. He was on his laptop in a few minutes, and half an hour later he had booked the flights, departing at half nine in the morning and landing at seven in the morning at Denver. I knew the day would be long and I was dreading it already.

In the evening, I sat down and packed the suitcases for both myself and Will as he was making calls to get visas and calling Uri to pick us up outside the airport and so on. Will eventually come back into the room, sitting down on the floor beside me.

'All sorted?' I asked him.

'Yep, Mom's upgraded our tickets to the first class to make it easier for you. Visas all sorted, Uri will pick us up around half eight and take us to breakfast before heading home. Whoever it is, they're going to arrive the day after so we have tomorrow to calm and rest and try to get over some jetlag.'

'She didn't need to upgrade us.' I tutted.

'Well, we didn't have a choice. No matter how much I protested, she told me it was her way of saying thank you. You all done here.'

'Yep, I didn't pack any of your horrific shirts. You can thank me later.' Will just pulled a face before he put his arm around me. 'But yeah, all bags packed, two weeks of outfits packed, including a babygrow. Your Mum wanted me to pack one for her for some reason. Toiletries and all that stuff is in the front pocket.' I said and Will just looked at me.

'How can I love you more and more each day?' Will said ever so softly as his hand came up to the side of my face as he kissed me. I deepened the kiss, an uncontrollable urge coming over me. I climbed over to sit on his lap as I continued to kiss him, as he gently unbuttoned my blouse, before picking me up, turning us around, and dropping me on the bed.

The alarm went off at a ridiculous time in the morning and I groaned as I rolled over into Will's chest as he laughed.

'God, what time is it?'

'Half four.' I said and he groaned as he held me tighter, pulling the duvet up over our naked chests. His hand then went down to rest on the bump. Our baby has just started to kick and move around and it still freaked me out to this day to have something like that wiggling around and kicking against my ribs at two in the morning. I remember the first time he moved. It was ten to three in the morning and I just bolted awake feeling like I was going to throw up. Will jumped up beside, noticing my sudden movement, asking what was wrong. I didn't tell him, instead, I just put his hand on my stomach and a few seconds later, he kicked again. Since then, our baby never stopped moving.

'So early.' Will moaned.

'I can sleep on the plane, come on.'

'But I can't sleep on planes.'

'You can nap in the car ride over then.' I laughed, sitting up as Will's hand was gently against his lower back.

We got ready and left the house bang on five in the morning, driving to pick up a very tired Zed and Sky on the way through. We checked in on time before we were shown to our first-class seats with reclining chairs and blankets. Will and I just grinned at each other as we both laid back in our little pods, a blanket over both of us, as I drifted off again. It was only as I was shaken awake that I realised I had slept through the entire flight, and we were landing in Denver. It took another hour and a half to get our luggage and leave the airport. Uri was standing outside of Will's old car, immediately coming over to give us all a hug.

'Hey, Fin.' He said as he hugged me. 'Look at you all round!'

'Watch it, or you won't be Godparent.' I said and he laughed.

'It's a compliment, how are you feeling?' He asked me as I watched Will and Zed pile our luggage into the back of Uri's car.

'Alright actually. Nothing horrendous. A bit tired, a bit nauseous at the time, but not too bad.' I told him and he smiled at me.

'Your due date is coming up soon, it's not too far away.' He said to me and I nodded. 'How is Will doing? Being a prick?' Uriel said.

'He's being brilliant. He's gone to every single doctor's appointment, been there every single time I've thrown up and trust me, that's a lot. He's been reading books and going to classes with me and even bought me a whole new wardrobe when I got too pregnant to fit in my old clothes. He always comes home with baby clothes and toys and everything else. He's been a dream.'

I saw Uriel smile as he nodded. By this point, Sky and Zed had already got in the back of the car as Will was standing by the boot of the car, watching Uri and I talk, but kept his distance.

'He's wanted children since the beginning of time. He was always looking after Yves and Zed when they were kids, and always looking after the hundreds of kid cousins we have. He's going to be a brilliant father, I don't think you even need to worry about him.'

'I don't think I ever have worried about him and how capable he is. It's me that's the concern.' I laughed as Will came up to me, kissing my temple.

'What we discussing?' Will asked.

'You.' Uri said

'Oh, cool.' Was all Will said before he got in the front of the car.

'Will mentioned you knew about Zed's premonition – the four kids?' Uri said and I nodded. 'Don't be scared, Fin. We all know Will is going to be a fantastic father, and you'll be a brilliant mother.'

'How do you know about that premonition.'

'When you moved over to America, Zed saw it the night you landed. Zed told Will quietly one morning, Will told me, worrying and wandering if he should tell you. We all agreed we wouldn't tell you. We didn't want you to panic.'

'Well now I'm panicking, I'm going to have to do this Hell four times.'

'It is worth it, that's what Carina has said several hundred times at least.' Carina, his wife and mother of Uri's child – the cutest child of all times. I nodded as Uri went to get in the driver's seat, and I slid in the back next to Sky, who got negotiated the middle seat.

It was just over an hour drive back to Wrickenridge as we avoided the rush hour traffic. We pulled up at the Benedict's family house just after midday after we stopped for some lunch on the way through. Will carried our bags in and took them to his childhood bedroom as I sat on the bed, watching him unpack.

'What were you and Uri talking about earlier?' Will asked as he started to hang up the clothes.

'On about your premonition about the four children.'

'Still worrying about that?' Will laughed.

'Kind of, yeah!'

'Don't.' Will said, hanging up a t-shirt before coming over and laying down with me on the bed. He put his arm around me.

'I'm more concerned about whatever is going to happen tomorrow.' I nervously mumbled.

'It's a very standard thing. We've done it since we were kids. If someone reaches out to the Net for help, we evaluate to see if it's worth us looking into, whether it's important enough to warrant getting all of our family over here to help. If it is, we all come over, do our things, and help. Even you know your gift is amazingly useful. It's no wonder why Mom would want you over too.'

That evening, we sat down to eat dinner. Karla and Saul had come home after work to Zed and Will cooking everyone pasta. We chatted over dinner, mentioning the baby, and work, and family, but not about the case tomorrow. I tried to mention the case, but I was very quickly dismissed saying we will worry about it tomorrow. And with that, soon after, Will and I called it a night, already suffering from jetlag. Will climbed into bed with me, immediately putting out his arm so I could roll in next to him.

'What time we got to be up tomorrow?' I mumbled as Will rolled onto his side, hand on my stomach.

'I think whoever it is, they should be here by ten.' I groaned. 'I know – you're doing well though, its 3 am back home.'

'I'm shattered.'

'It's been a long day, try and get some sleep poppet.' Will told me gently.

It didn't take me long after that to drift off, in a room that still felt hauntingly unfamiliar, but with Will beside me, playing with my hair, I felt comfortable. I never realised how scared I was to sleep before I met him, but now I've never felt so comfortable.


	14. Chapter 14

Both Will and I jumped awake as someone rapped on the door. Uri popped his head around the room as I squinted at him in the dark room. I saw the clock on the wall, though, which read half nine in the morning. I sat up slightly, hugging the duvet.

'Morning Fin, Will. Mom's just called, the guests are about ten minutes out.' Uri said gently before he smiled gently, closing the door. Will just groaned and kissed my cheek.

'How you feeling?' He asked me.

'As rough as you sound.' I said and he laughed before kissing me.

'Right, up we get.' Will said, climbing over me as he pulled on a fresh pair of boxers. I groaned, also sitting up as Will chucked me some underwear, a pair of leggings and a thin cotton t-shirt. It was end of October, and whilst Wrickenridge already had their first snowfall, it was still pretty warm. I very quickly got dressed, putting on a tiny bit of make up as Will watched and then brushed my hair. It was only in the middle of brushing my hair I heard the door open, and people walk in. There was three voices; I could hear Karla talking to someone, another woman, I would say the same age, replying. There was also a deep male voice piping up occasionally, a thick accent that I recognized but couldn't put a finger on.

'Our guests are here.' Will said softly and I just nodded, pulling my hair up in a ponytail. We heard loads of footsteps walking through the house, eventually getting quieter as they made their way into the games room downstairs. Then you could hear people – Will's brothers and a few sister-in-laws, introduce themselves, and whoever the people were introduce themselves back.

'You'll be fine.' Will whispered, and I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.

'I know I will be.' I mumbled back as Will gently rubbed my shoulders. I didn't know why I was so nervous but it was a feeling I couldn't shake. The feeling of inevitability. That something was going to happen – something bad. Or perhaps it was working with all of Will's family, and Victor taking charge of this event and knowing he hates me? But I dismissed it – I was always extremely pessimistic. It was the one thing Will and I joked about. He was constantly laid back, convinced everything would work out and I was always convinced that the worst was going to happen. Will had tried to almost positively condition me out of my responses, to stop believing the worst is going to happen, but it is at times like this I can't help but think the worst is going to happen. Partially, I knew I was scared because I promised myself I would never show anyone my gift, and now I felt obliged to. But that wasn't the only thing.

'It's a normal routine thing, Fin. We're here to help people, that's what the Net does.'

 _The Net did nothing but fail me._ I thought to myself. The time I needed the Net, to find suitable housing, to find me somewhere to grow up safely, I got banned from the Net. And to make it worse, the man that banned me was now my brother in law.

'You ready to go down?' Will said and I nodded. He gently took my hand, leading me out his bedroom, down the corridor and down the flight of stairs and through the kitchen. I turned the corner of the kitchen before I stopped dead.

I could see the family that had come over; a mother and five of her children. The youngest, a small girl, late twenties but looked younger as her face filled with childish glee, with blonde ringlets, the most beautiful covering of freckles on her face, looked over at me for a second and stopped in her movement, the grin on her face freezing before it dropped, along with her colour. I examined the rest of the room. The mother, who looked to be in her mid-to-late fifties was still talking to Karla. Two older men, both early thirties were talking to Trace in the side of the room, all of them with the same blonde hair and marking of freckles across the bridge of their nose, cheeks and jawline. There was another boy, looked to be mid to late twenties, stood talking to the girl who was transfixed on me, also stopped to look at me. The sixth person in the room was another female, blonde with freckles, standing at just over five foot, was talking to Victor. But the two youngest in the room, the boy and the girl, stood staring at me, fixed.

'Have I got my t-shirt on back to front or something?' I asked Will but I couldn't stop looking at the girl. It was only as I looked at her, I couldn't work out why I couldn't take my eyes off her.

'Fin - why do they all look like you?' Will asked me as Victor came jogging up in front of me, putting his hand on my arm. He angled himself so I could no longer see the people behind him. I looked up at him, but for once rather than looking smug, he looked upset.

'Fin, you need to leave.'

'Vick, if you didn't notice I am six months pregnant, I'm never normally in the mood for your crap but consider that with hormones on top.' I said but he cut me off.

'No, Fin, this isn't me being an asshole.'

'Then why?'

'Oh my god.' Will whispered.

'Fin, these people are from Ireland. They claim they lost their daughter when she was seven. They can't remember their daughter, they have photos and a bedroom and toys but they can't remember her. They're here because of someone keeps threatening the life of the daughter they cannot remember, and no one knows the location of that daughter.' Victor said quietly.

It was just as he said that I realised why I couldn't take my eyes of the woman in the room. It was like looking in a mirror. She looked identical to me.

'Oh my god, it's her family. This is her family.' Will said.

'Yeah, we think it is. Will, take her upstairs, please.' Vick said, squeezing my arm. 'Sorry, Fin. I'm so sorry.' He whispered as I met his eye. For the first time since I met him, he was being sincere, showing remorse. He wasn't out to get me, to upset me, nothing. He was being sincere, he was trying to get me out of that room where my family stood, to protect me.

Will gently took my hand and started to guide me back down the corridor. I slowly walked beside him, numb, shaking, but able to walk. Half way up the stairs, I stopped. Everything clicked. My family, my brothers and my sisters, my Mum, they were all here, in a room no more than ten meters away from my current position. They're here to find me. I smiled slightly. But then I remembered Daniel, what he had said about the threat, someone was out to kill me. And now, the Net was involved. And the Net had deemed it so dangerous that they had flown all the Benedict's over to try and solve it.

I was in grave danger.

'Fin.' Will said and I just looked at him. 'Fin, don't get all worried when we don't know the details. Come on.' He said, almost dragging me up the stairs. I numbly followed as Will guided me back into his bedroom, closing the door as I started to cry. Will immediately came up to me and held me, tight, as tight as my protruding bump would allow, as I sobbed.

'Will, they're my family.'

'I know.' He whispered and I pushed my away. 'No, I didn't know beforehand. They look identical to you.'

'You said your family are only called together in instances if the threat is serious. The threat is me. What is going to happen.' I sobbed as Will sat me down on the edge of the bed, grabbing a box of tissues from the side and dabbing my eyes dry.

'Finley, I don't know what is happening. I don't know about why they are here. But we will protect you.'

'Will, we're going to have a baby in fifteen weeks time. How can we safely have a baby when theres a serious threat against me.' I sobbed as will just pulled me onto his lap.

'Fin. I promise you this now. I will protect you. I will protect our little boy. I will never leave your side and I will never let anything happen to you. Ever. And I will never let anything happen to our Noah.'

'Jacob.' I corrected and he just smiled at me. I fell into his arms a bit more, resting my head against him.

'Noah.' Will mumbled back in my ear. 'Have a nap, Fin, you're still shattered. I'll go grab you some food.'

'Say hello to my mother for me.' I whispered as I shook my head. Will gently moved me back into his bed, kissing my forehead. But he didn't reply – how could be reply? His mother in law just rocked up downstairs. My mother, who's memory I wiped when I was just a little girl. And my siblings, who also fell victim my heinous gift. How awful for them; they had their minds wiped. Their little sister gone. But they still had the family photos on the wall, the albums in the cupboard by the stairs downstairs, and Ciara, the girl who I was staring at, my sister, the sister I shared a room with at night, went to bed the night after she forgot wondering what the empty bed was doing in the room, and whos toys and books lined the shelves under the bed.

Will left the room, and I could hear him downstairs. I covered myself in the blanket, closing my eyes, just praying to every God I could think off, and every superhero and every stray cat on the street that my brain would stop whirling, and even if I die in whatever threat was bad enough for the Net to call an emergency gathering of the best, I had to protect Will. He was innocent in all this, he got dragged into my whirlpool of evil that I created because of the bond. And, more importantly,I had to protect our son.

I knew I must have drifted off, because I jumped awake when I heard some knocking on the door. I was laying on my side, my hand in front of me, another under my head. The back of my head was pressed against something – I would guess Will as I felt his hand on my upper arm. Someone opened the door – I could hear it pop open and footsteps on the floor, and then a weight on the bed. I kept my eyes closed.

'Hey.' Will whispered.

'How is she doing?' Saul asked and Will sighed.

'Not good. I told her the Net will only gather like it did if there is serious cause for concern. She put two and two together and realized that the grave concern is to do with her.' Will whispered. 'She had a cry, the last thing she said to me was "say hello to my mother". Dad, be honest with me, how bad is it?'

'Bad.' He said and I screwed my eyes up. 'But apparently, Zed said her brother Daniel came to you? And it's not much different to what he said.'

'We know it was death threats against Fin, kept saying that the Devil belongs in Hell and not in a human.' Will whispered back.

'We'll keep her safe Will. We won't let anything happen to her, or anything happen to your son either.' Saul said and Will just sighed. 'How you both coping?'

'Fin is getting there. She keeps thinking she can't do it and she panics, and other times she is over the moon.'

'You have to give her time, Will, Your Mom when she was pregnant with Trace, she kept telling herself that she couldn't do it. It's normal. How are you doing?'

'I'm fine.'

'You were designed to be a father.' Saul said to him. 'No, you were. You were always the laid back caring one, the one who wanted to play with baby dolls when you were a toddler. Karla and I always said you would be the first father out of everyone. We did get that bit wrong, but we knew you were designed for it.'

'You think we can do this?' Will asked nervously and it was the first time I've ever heard him have doubts over the baby.

'Of course you can, you will be a brilliant father, and Finley will be an incredible mother, she really will. It's normal to have doubts -'

'No, I meant the threat.' Will said. 'Can we really raise a kid with this threat looming over us?'

'We need to find out more about the threat first, but I honestly think that it will all be resolved. We just need to find the person who is making this threat and, if none of the family knew about her gift, who did? And we need to talk to Fin to see if she wants to meet her family.' Saul said softly and I heard Will sigh.

'I don't know if she will.' Will mumbled, gently touching my arm as he drew patterns on his fingers. In all honestly, I didn't know if I wanted to meet my family. It was an odd feeling, I was really angry at my family for giving up on me, but there again it was my fault they forgot. And before I made them forget me, they were somewhat loving. My youngest older siblings, Ciara who was a year older than me if I remember correctly, and Teiran who was three years older than me, we were all close. We went to the same school, and Ciara and I shared a room. And then, one day after school, I was reading my book and the next thing I knew, my siblings didn't know me. My parents didn't remember me. No one did. I always got angry they left me, but I never really considered it from their view.

Ciara would have gone to bed, wondering who's bed is in her bedroom. There must have been books everywhere – I would read four or five at the same time. There was my clothes, never hand-me-downs. My toys, everything. They would have been there. On the landing upstairs were photos of the family each year on holiday. I must have been in at least six of them. So my parents must have passed those photos each night, seeing a young girl always in the middle of that photo, and not knowing who she is. Or going into Ciara's room to kiss her goodnight, and seeing the empty bed, the clothes, and even my dirty clothes that would have been in the wash that day, and not knowing who they were. Or what about my uncles and aunts, my grandparents? They wouldn't have fallen for my gift, would they have asked where I am?

My family might have had that terrible lacking feeling, like they were missing something. They didn't know what, but they knew something was missing. Almost like phantom limb syndrome, but a child. I never, until now, gave Daniel the credit he deserves. My Dad was abusive – or so he says – so he did what was best for me. He didn't know the consequences. And he must have held this massive secret to himself for years and years, until now. I didn't know why, after my Dad left, tell my Mum about my existence. But, perhaps there was reason.

'I'll talk to her quietly when she wakes up. How long will they be here for?'

'The week, they have a hotel in Veil and picking up a hire car tonight so they won't be staying with us. I honestly didn't know what this case was about until earlier. If I did, I wouldn't have got you two over.'

'What are you going to tell them, about their daughter that is?' Will asked softly, and I could feel him almost gently fussing my arm. Neither of them had any idea I was awake, listening to their conversation.

'I was hoping to talk to Finley, to see what she wanted to do. But I'm not too sure, they came all this way to find their daughter and warn her. I've spoken to Cait, the mother, and she desperately wants to find her daughter. She is fully aware that the girl, her daughter, Moira, would have made a new life without her and it is very likely she won't want her mother in her life, but she wants to at least try. Cait has mentioned that she knows she has failed her children, she admits that she didn't allow Moira to use her gift and therefore didn't teach her control, but she could have never imagined her being that powerful.'

'She's confirmed her daughters name is Moira?' Will said and my heart dropped.

'Got her birth certificate, school records, kid's drawings, everything. Got a photo three days before the incident. You can easily see Fin in her. And in Cait you can see Fin. And the siblings?'

'They're identical to her.' Will said ever so softly and there was silence – I could only guess Saul just nodded to him. 'We had someone come in when we were on our honeymoon. Fin got morning sickness awful, was throwing up twelve hours a day, asleep the rest. Not even keeping down water. We came home a few days early, nothing major. We went back to base to hook her up to some banana bags, just enough to stop her collapsing randomly. As we got in, we saw Sky, Zed, Alice – her other bridesmaid, remember? - and our boss were in a room with a man, early thirties perhaps. Says he was looking for his little sister that he took to the orphanage after his little sister used her gift to make her family forget him.'

'Fin.' Was all Saul said.

'Yep, we got talking to him. I grilled him, I was furious of course, but his story made sense. It filled in the empty gaps. Fin met him as well, they've been talking. It's been very awkward conversation but it's something. There's been threat to him about Fin as well.'

'He's the brother that is missing.' Saul said.

Ask Zed to tell you about the threats. When Fin wakes up, I'll talk to her about this all. I'll see if she wants to meet her Mum, and talk to her.'

'Cait knows nothing about Fin, she's been begging us to find her baby daughter and she doesn't even know that her daughter is directly above her, a floor up, sound asleep, and in a few months, she will have a baby of her own.'

'Dad, if this all happened to you, and it was Zed Trace dropped off at an orphanage, would you ever stop looking for Zed?' Will asked.

'Never.' Saul said with such certainty there was no questions about it. 'Even if I went to people like us, got them to look and they came back with nothing, I would never stop. If something happened to your son when he was born, would you do everything you can to fix it, to help him?'

'Yeah, in a heartbeat.' Will said and I couldn't help but smile slightly. 'Even if something, anything, was to happen to Fin, I would do anything I could.'

'That's normal, that's unconditional love. Regardless whether Cait hears it from us or not, she will never stop looking for her daughter.' Saul said.

I tried to think about it a bit more; if – God forbid – something happened to our son, our Jacob, would I ever stop looking for him? No. I would turn over every rock on the planet, and even in our solar system, to try and find him. And he wasn't even born yet. Maybe it would be a decent idea just to sit down and have a coffee with my Mum – Cait? See what she has to say? And even if she doesn't like it, and I decided nothing to do with her, it would at least give her closure.

'Let me know when Finley wakes up.' Saul said and I heard him walk out the room, the door gently closing. I just kept my eyes closed as I heard Will sigh. He shuffled around a bit, leaning over me before he laid down beside me, putting his arm around my waist and kissed my cheekbone.

'I know you're awake.' Will whispered but I just kept pretending to be asleep. There was silence in the room, a minute or two before I heard Will sigh. 'I love you Fin.' He mumbled. 'What have you got yourself in for?'

I drifted back to sleep, wandering the exact same.


End file.
